Intertwined
by BuggyFiction
Summary: Bella was born and raised in captivity with the Cullens, bred and designed by the enigmatic Dr. Carlisle Cullen to be a grand creation. When Bella is sent on a mission by the Cullens and is left to her devices, she is eventually faced with family she never knew and must come to terms with details about herself and the past to get her happy ending. Bella Kol, Klaus Myriam(OC)
1. Chapter 1

She shared her space with her accidents and only the wolf got fed on a regular basis because he could escape when the door opened when they needed her. The wolf. Sam. He was what kept her warm at night and in the winter, and had been her roommate for quite a number of years. He'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time, that was all.

Her other accidents were usually vampires, not those of importance, but those who came to join in on the experiments. They quickly died mainly because the wolf had reverted to do what he had been initially created to do; to kill vampires. The only downside was that their stingy venom was everywhere and she usually had to sit in a corner for days until someone came with the hose to wash it all away. With cold water. And of course using her as target practice.

It was alright, this was her life and she was fine with it. She didn't know any different and was compliant in every way. She wasn't sure why the wolf was being kept around, his brains were scrambled and he couldn't shift back into his human form, he was a danger to everyone who opened the door even on a good day. It was likely he served as a reminder that she needed to be good. At all times.

And she wasn't.

While Bella may have been content in her environment, the children that were being brought to their home weren't. They thought of their loving parents. Warmth, good food and their toys and were always sad. In the beginning, Bella hadn't understood why the children were with them, but she had overheard _them_ talking about how special the children were and how more special they could make them. Like Bella.

But she wasn't anything special. If anything, she spent most of her time in her room with the wolf, tucked away, unless the doctor needed her for something. For the experiments. No matter how strange the experiments were, sometimes it was the highlight of her day. Someone was playing with her and that made her feel good. She wasn't sad.

But the children were, and Bella sometimes managed to get one out. And then got found out and punished, because Bella was costing _them_ a lot of money. Yes, it was bad that she let children go, she knew that. But it was good for the children, but she was being taken care of, so why was it good for the children? Perhaps they'd have a better life here than at their own home, surely there was a reason for them to be brought to where she lived?

She didn't do it that often; only those who really hurt and who had a clear image of who they belonged to. That they were stolen instead of bought or taken from a place with lonely children. But still, she always cost them a lot of money and that meant no food and only a bottle of water for a week, extra experiments and syringes and _him_ probing her mind to see if she was a deviant. If she was defective. While he never found her to be deceptive on purpose, he always said that she was doing it due to poor training. And then she had to go back into the small room without the wolf for a very long time to remember what was important. Her loyalty to _them_ was important and keeping the children was important too.

She never understood the children crying for their mommy or daddy, nor the images she saw of the children being held and comforted. She had been given birth to, and she existed, she was fine, what was it with the holding? The lips on their cheek? Even the lonely children from countries far away cried for someone who held them. It was a strange and confusing concept, and when she briefly asked Jasper once, he immediately closed his mind to her and left. He didn't want to answer her question. And she shouldn't be curious. Curiosity was a bad thing. She knew this. She didn't need to know all the answers. She needed to be, and nothing extra, but she was able to slightly pick up on other people's thoughts, why shouldn't she be allowed to have them? Asking questions was out of the question.

She wished she hadn't been able to pick up on someone else's thoughts or feelings, even in the slight degree that she had this curse. It made her life complicated and difficult, because thoughts and feelings were redundant, according to her birth givers and trainers. And she wanted to follow the rules so badly, it was sometimes impossible. And then she was a bad girl again.

When the door opened, she looked up from her spot to see what was happening. She was certain that she hadn't hurt someone else's brain, and Sam had been fed the day before, what was going on? When a plate of her food was being shoved across the floor, she moved to take it, but Sam was quicker and licked her plate clean, which was a pity. She loved her water with oats. "You'll have to be quicker next time, Bella," her birthgiver said before grabbing the hose and started to hose her down. "We're going on a trip and I'm going to need your help," she said as she kept the cold water coming. "We are finally allowed to go after the children we've been wanting for years, we finally received the clearance, isn't that great?"

"Yes ma'am…" Bella said softly as she kept her eyes closed and shivered as she was being hosed down. She needed to be relatively clean if her birthgiver needed her to come with, and it was likely that she was going to get her outside clothes, too. Sam, the wolf who sometimes thought he was a puppy, decided he wanted to play with the hose too and pushed Bella out of the stream of water as he jumped around. She nearly fell, but managed to remain on her feet, albeit a bit wobbly.

The hose was turned off and clean clothes were thrown into a dry spot. "Get changed, I'll be back in five minutes. I'd prefer it if you had a little bit of energy inside of you, Bella, I need you on your best and I don't want you to screw this up. You'll cost us a lot of money and _they_ might not be lenient this time."

"Yes ma'am," Bella replied as she started to strip out of her wet, sticky clothes and, whilst dripping wet, got into her dry clothes. She never liked her outside clothes much, they were too restricting, but her birthgiver wanted them to blend in with the people on the outside and that meant leaving her linen shirt and trousers at home.

She waited by the door to make sure Sam wouldn't do anything if it opened again and quietly stepped outside when Emmett opened the door. "Good girl," he said as he grabbed her arm and started to pull her with him. "Edward, Alice and I are coming with, it's going to be difficult to get the children we want," he said as he dragged her along the long corridor of rooms holding sad children, or numb children and even children she couldn't quite get a read on because they were too far away from her. "A handful of the shifters are coming with too, and you'd better behave, they still can't forgive you for what you've done to Sam."

"Yes sir," she said softly as he took her up the stairs into the reception area. Emmett, Edward and Alice were vampires made out of marble and cold to the touch. She had learned from Jasper that once they had been vegetarians, feeding off animals, but it had become the law that every vampire should feed on humans to make sure they were strong enough to do the Volturi's bidding.

Sometimes they were allowed to have a sip from Bella, especially when she'd been a bad girl. Her body was so used to the vampire's venom that they couldn't turn her, it merely took some time for the venom to pass through her system and for the wounds to close. She didn't mind them drinking from her, despite knowing that there'd be gaping holes on her when they were done due to the fact that unlike Sam, the vampires didn't have fangs and had to rip her skin apart.

And strange enough, she prefered this as a punishment over those of Doctor Carlisle, as he liked to cut her open with sharp knives, or inject something from a syringe that made her feel funny. "The wolf ate her food," Edward noticed. Bella could feel him poke around in her head, she needed to stop thinking. Shut down. "We need her fed."

"She won't let us down," her birthgiver said as she opened the door to the backyard where a private plane was waiting for them. "Will you, Bella?"

"No ma'am," she replied and didn't even wince when both Edward and Alice jabbed her with a syringe filled with whatever. There was no doubt that there'd be more to come. Such was always the case when going outside, dulling her thoughts and her ability to hurt people. They were fearful of her in tiny spaces, even her birth giver was. Bella found the vampires and werewolves more dangerous than her.

As they strapped her into her seat, she could feel Edward poke around some more, more intensely somehow. Had she slipped up? She was sure everything was hidden. Looking outside, she focused on the building and not anything else. She'd been locked away with Sam for too long, she wanted to stay out. She was a good girl.

After the plane landed, they still had to walk a little while to get to where they needed to be; some school tucked in the woods. Edward was annoyed because Bella was walking on bare feet over the leaves, twigs and stones and she was bleeding. "Couldn't you have given her shoes?"

"I forgot to buy new ones for her," her birthgiver responded. "The ones she had were eaten by the wolf. How was I supposed to know we were going to take her out?"

"It's your job to know, Renée," Edward spat as he decided to walk on the other side, up wind, to make sure he wouldn't smell her as bad as he did now. "This is torture."

Emmett sighed and lifted Bella up, placing her on the back of one of the bigger wolves. "Sorry Jake, my brother is a sissy."

Jake let out a growl and sped off, causing Bella to fall off his back, right in a pile of leaves.

Emmett laughed as he plucked the girl out of the leaves and pushed her to continue to walk. "You're not making friends, Bella, you should change that."

"She's fine the way she is," Renée spat at the vampire. "She's a handful already. Her only worth is that she can truly protect us when we go on these high risk snatches."

"She's your daughter," Emmett pointed out.

"She's a monster and a failure. This is not what we expected to happen," she shot at him, pointing at Bella. "She's defective and the Volturi don't even want to come to collect her because they're afraid she'll fry their brains, too. Or worse. It's already bad that the other vampires think that Bella's killing them while she's with us at all times. Besides, Charlie and I need her for the sympathy votes when he runs for mayor or if there's a charity function."

"She's no killer," Edward said as he wrinkled his nose, still smelling her blood intensely. "We could always try to turn her into one, that must be entertaining. Even Carlisle would be interested, would it have an impact on her personality?"

"What personality?" Emmett countered. "There's nothing in there. She's a good little drone, that's it!"

"If she's a good little drone, nothing should change, shouldn't it?" Edward said wickedly. "Bella, I want you to come with us to the building and kill the first adult you see."

"Yes sir," Bella replied quietly.

"No, she's not," Renée growled. "Belay that order, Bella, you're not going anywhere."

"Yes ma'am."

"She's not a fucking toy, Edward!"

"Still, certainly something to discuss with dear old dad," Edward mused as he looked at his sister, who had definitely picked up on something. "They know we're coming. Someone must have warned them."

"What!" Emmett growled. "I thought we had plugged that leak!"

"Well, apparently not!" Edward hissed as he instructed the wolves to circle the school building. "I will have to interrogate everyone _again_. Ugh. Do you have any idea what ugly things people think about? Lewd things, even?"

Renee handed Bella a bottle of water with herbs in them. "You're going to stay here while we are going to get as many children as we possibly can. We're going to bring them to you and you're going to keep them safe. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am."

"And I swear to God, Bella, don't screw this up. It'll reflect badly upon all of us when you do, and there is no way we can repay the Volturi if the children are lost."

"Yes ma'am," she replied again, standing still next to a big tree. She removed the lid of her bottle of water and started to drink it. She never liked the concoctions her birth giver gave her. They always tasted strange, but in other ways it made Bella feel good, strong. If she was going to be a good girl, she needed her strength.

She watched as the vampires and Renée headed towards the house, and Bella was surprised by the amount of noise coming from the direction. Explosions, yelling, strange words she had never heard and yet, the first one to come back, albeit a little bit singed around the edges, was Jake, carrying a girl on his back and dropped her off in front of Bella. ' _Shield up, killer,'_ he instructed her and she did as she looked at the girl. The girl looked straight at her in return, no sign of anxiety or stress. She was fearless. Exactly the type of child they would want.

"My name is Hope," the girl said as she kept her eyes on Bella. "And once my dad finds out what you've done, he'll come for you," she said daringly and removed her bracelet, stuffed it in her pocket and tried to pierce through Bella's protective bubble. With her magic.

Bella hadn't seen real magic before, and the girl was strong, she had to give her that. The girl kept casting spells and eventually Bella reached out to her. ' _Please stop, I can't let you go.'_

"Yes, you can! I'm supposed to be safe here! And here you are, not making me safe!"

' _I can't let you go,'_ Bella tried to strengthen her shield as it had been quite weak, but it didn't quite work. The continuous assault of Hope's magic on her shield was painful. ' _Please stop, please, I don't want to get us both in trouble.'_

Hope stopped and looked at Bella, fury in her eyes. "Oh, you're going to be in trouble alright, if you don't let me go!"

' _I will get into trouble if I let you go, please stop,'_ she repeated before staggering against the tree when Hope blasted another spell at the shield. This young girl seemed to be extremely powerful, it was no wonder that they would want her. All Bella could do was to try to keep the girl within the bubble, and then be in a lot of trouble when she couldn't.

Hope then squeaked as she turned around and grabbed hold of Bella "Don't be scared, but I'm going to turn us invisible. Your shield will protect us, right?"

Bella blinked at the girl before slowly nodding. It was then when a loud explosion could be heard from the direction of the school, and debris were flying far into the forest, some bouncing off of Bella's shield. How did the girl know?

"My two best friends are very powerful witches, they send a message that they were going to make things go boom and scare the intruders off, we'll be safe," Hope said as she watched the wolves run past, a smile on her face. "Because, you see, my dad will want to know who you work for and what attacked our school and now, you're linked to me, unless I unbind us."

When Renée and the vampires jogged past, Bella tried calling out for them. "We are here!"

"Save your breath, they can't hear you. I made your little bubble soundproof," the girl smirked as she started to pull Bella along with her. "Come on, you're going to give my dad some answers. There is no doubt that he's already on his way here."

This wasn't supposed to happen. Did the little girl just kidnap Bella? Was that even possible to link someone to someone? What would happen if Bella would just let the girl go? 'I'll let you go.'

"Great! But I'm not letting you go! Attacking a school filled with children, magical children, you and whomever you work for must have lost their minds."

' _Let me go,'_ Bella put a sense of urgency behind her words. ' _I'm sorry for what they did, but if I don't return, I will be in trouble. Let me go.'_

"And stop speaking to me telepathically."

Whatever Bella tried, she couldn't get away from the girl, nor drop her shield. And while the girl pretended everything was normal, that she got away from her abductors, Bella still couldn't leave. Even the girl's caretakers, Caroline and Alaric, were assured that Hope's father would be on his way. They were merely glad that nobody got hurt and that the explosion had been merely an illusion followed by some of the loose dirt.

Bella needed to go home. Surely her birthgiver, the vampires and the wolves would have noticed her not being on the plane and would come back for her? Then again, Bella had failed. Or had she? She had listened to the instructions. She had waited at the spot, and had protected the child. And the child had turned the tables on her. Bella had never been left alone this long, and she was now in unchartered waters. What was going to happen to her?

Bella hadn't failed. She had been taken and they weren't going to come back for her. She'd be punished for trying to take the child out of her life. She could say that the vampires and wolves worked for her. That she was the mastermind. So that her people would be safe. So that they could continue their work.

Yes. That was Bella's purpose now. To protect her people. Like she'd always do.


	2. Chapter 2

She got roused from her thoughts when the door flew open and an angry looking man walked in. "Where is she?!" he bellowed, making Bella cower in fear, something she wasn't supposed to, but this man was scary. Scarier than Emmett. Scarier than Doctor Carlisle. His mind filled with rage and worry. Unpredictable.

Hope giggled. "You're in trouble now, missy," she told Bella before running over to her father. "I'm here! I'm okay! You didn't have to come all the way here, dad."

"Nonsense," the man replied as he enveloped the girl into a big hug. His arms were all wrapped around her, much like Bella had seen previously in the minds of the other children. "I had to make sure you were alright, little wolf, and question your Aunt Caroline and Uncle Alaric about what happened."

"Klaus, we were warned in time, we have sufficiently protected ourselves," the blonde woman, Caroline, spoke. "I don't know why Hope allowed herself to be taken, but-"

"You did what?" the man, Klaus, looked at his child, curious, and perhaps a little smile of pride on his face.

Hope shrugged. "I was bored. But I've got you a present, though," she smiled as she let go of her father and revealed Bella from her invisibility spell, and unlinked the girl from herself. "They brought me to her. I'm sure she can tell you everything about the people who attacked us."

Bella could feel the rage burn inside of the man and she didn't dare to look up. She tried not to flinch. Not to blink. She wasn't to show fear. She had been left behind and now she needed to protect her family.

"Oh, don't you even think about it," Caroline's voice sounded as she pushed Klaus away with the same amount of force that Emmett used on Edward or even Bella. "There are children present here!"

"She tried to take my daughter!"

"Your daughter allowed herself to be taken," Caroline told him. "And she took this girl in return. Now, don't get me wrong, Klaus, the girl is definitely wrong for being a possible child snatcher, but Hope put herself in harm's way first and even hid the girl from Ric and I, so… I don't know, maybe Hope needs to be disciplined for doing it. There was no danger at all, we knew they were coming and fend them off and everyone is safe."

Klaus scowled as he looked at Caroline, then his daughter, and then his daughter's prisoner. With the girl now here, she was a danger to the children and the school. He was going to take care of it. He was going to take her away, interrogate her and then kill her. Simple. "Very well," he said as he walked over to Hope, kissed her on the head. "I'll take her with me, you won't have to worry about this girl anymore."

Klaus took the girl by the arm and dragged her outside to his car, pushed her inside and drove off. She wasn't looking at him and she wasn't talking. He wasn't even sure if she was showing remorse. He'd have to stop the car to compel her and interrogate her and he needed to be far away from the school. For some reason, he didn't like killing near the old Salvatore Boarding House.

He had calmed down enough when they were already halfway to New Orleans and stopped the car. Klaus pulled the girl out of the car and against it, shaking her until she'd look at him. "Who are you?"

"No one, sir," Bella replied as she looked at him. He was trying to get inside her mind, just like Edward. Why?

"Do you even know your name?"

"Yes sir."

"Then tell me."

"No sir."

Klaus let out a frustrated growl and hit the top of the car, right next to Bella, denting it. There was fury and rage swirling around inside his mind, and while Bella found that beautiful, she also knew it was bad. Very bad. "You can't be compelled," he stated as he looked at her in surprise. "But I don't believe you are a witch, either… what are you?"

"Nothing, sir." Bella wasn't scared. This was her purpose. Her punishment. She had been left behind to clean up a mess. To take responsibility. ' _Those who attacked the building work for me.'_

"I hardly believe that, love, and please use your words, stay out of my head," Klaus sighed as he took a few steps back to fully look at the girl. In his worry and rage, he had not paid attention to what she looked like. Skin over bones. Pale. Fragile. There was no way that this girl was the leader of something. "Why did you take Hope?"

' _She's special, they like their children to be special,'_ Bella replied, not looking up, but back at her feet. ' _I failed, the child had me fooled. I deserve any punishment you see fit. Even death.'_ She could sense that they were looking for her. No wonder, the werewolves and the vampires could run faster than Klaus' car was running. Edward was trying to reach out to her, so Bella tried hard to make decisions so that Alice could pick up on them. She made the decision to shift a little on her feet, and maybe to ask Renée for a water with oats if she got home.

Good. The girl knew she was in trouble and was expecting death. Well, that could be arranged. But she wasn't going to give him the information he required. He was going to need help from his witchy sister, meaning he was going to have to take the girl home.

Just when he wanted to push her back into the car, a pack of shifter wolves surrounded them, snarling at Klaus. "Toy dogs?" He laughed as he looked at Bella. "Are you running with the Quileutes, love? What of them vampires?" He had heard of a collaboration like this, but had always dismissed it for its ridiculousness. Granted, the Cold Ones had always been a pest, but he'd never think that they'd be up to something as deranged as going after children.

"Yes sir," she replied, a small smile appearing on her face. She felt a glimmer of hope and gratefulness, they hadn't abandoned her at all. Which also meant that she was going to go home and get punished, but at least she'd be home. She decided to walk towards Jake, but Klaus held her back.

"She's mine," Klaus announced to the wolves as he held her by the arm. "You tried to take my daughter, I'm taking your colleague." Jake snarled as he leapt forward, his big mouth snapping at Klaus, who only laughed. "Oh, you have no idea who you are trying to piss off, have you?"

Bella looked at Klaus and saw his face change. Veins appeared on his face, fangs grew out in his mouth, his eyes changed color. Was he one of those traditional vampires Jasper had told her about?

"Do try to attack me, I am itching for a good fight after you tried stealing my daughter, but know that I will win and that I, Klaus Mikaelson, will not rest until I have found each and everyone of you to pay for your misdeed against my family!"

' _Stand down!'_ Edward's voice rang inside her head, no doubt the wolves heard it too, as they cowered and took a few steps back. He then emerged from the trees. "My sincere apologies, Mr. Mikaelson," Edward spoke softly, a charming smile on his face. "We never meant to take your daughter, had we known she was yours, we would have let her be."

Edward was being deceptive, Bella could tell.

"However, you have her back, safe and sound, now please, hand me the girl, and we shall go on our way. There is no reason to fight," he said calmly as he held his hand out for Bella. ' _Push him back with your shield and come with me.'_

Bella did as she was told, but the traditional vampire wasn't budging, which surprised her. Then again, she felt weak, and perhaps her shield was far too weak after Hope's assault earlier. She then tried to pull herself loose, which wasn't working either as the vampire's hold on her was tight, and she didn't want to give him a headache. Scramble his brains. She didn't like doing that. She wouldn't.

' _Hurt him, Bella,'_ Edward's soothing voice sounded. ' _It's alright, you won't get in trouble for freeing yourself.'_

She didn't want to disappoint Edward though, so she tried, but all she could do was piss the vampire off even further.

"Quit your stomping around in my brain, love," he said before looking at Edward. "I'll be taking your girl as an insurance policy that you will not go after my daughter again. When you do, I shall send you back this girl's corpse in pieces." He was still going to kill them all, he merely wanted this girl out of the way first, and his sister was going to help him.

Seeing no progress with Bella, Edward snarled. "Keep her. She's defective," he turned around and signalled for the wolves to follow him on full speed away.

Bella couldn't believe that Edward was going to leave her with this vampire. She could feel how her hope sank deep into her feet, along with some emotions she didn't understand and couldn't help but slink back against the car, hugging her knees to her chest and rocking herself. This wasn't happening. She thought that Edward was going to take her home. Now she was alone. Like the lonely children. While she had her new purpose still inside her mind, to protect her people, she felt torn. She'd always been loyal to them and now they had abandoned her. Just like that. Because she was defective.

This was her true punishment. She had no purpose anymore.

He watched as the girl shut down, fell apart like a house of cards, and had become unresponsive to everything he said to her. While he was still angry with her for wanting to take his daughter, he believed something else was going on. There was no way that any normal person would respond like this. That their acting would be this good.

He could leave her, of course, and then return home only to find himself feeling guilty for leaving the poor girl all by herself. Perhaps a new project for him and his siblings to kill some time until their next catastrophe would be sufficient. But he was still going to destroy this Cold One/Quileute collaboration, as soon as he figured out where their base of operations were. He could still leave the girl behind and not tell his siblings about her, of course. But chances were that the Cold Ones would come back for her anyway, that them leaving her was a mere ruse, and he didn't want to give them the satisfaction of him giving up that easily.

No, this girl was going to come back with him and to be interrogated. End of.

He managed to get her inside the car and drove the rest of the way to New Orleans, the girl not changing position at all during the ride, although he would think that sitting the way that she was, was extremely uncomfortable for a human. It frustrated him that she couldn't be compelled, he'd rather have the answers now than later, but then again, patience had never been one of his virtues in cases like these.

She was still his enemy. He was going to lock her in the dungeons so she couldn't escape and then call for a family meeting, explaining the entire story. He was going to be ridiculed for his heart, but also for bringing someone who ran with Cold Ones and shifter wolves into their home. It was a recipe for disaster and Klaus was going to release her as soon as he got the information he needed. Shouldn't take longer than a week.

Klaus pulled her out of the car. "You have to walk," he told her as he looked at her on the floor. "I am not going to carry you inside." She wasn't moving, she was still breathing, so that was a plus. He lifted her up and threw her over his shoulder before running to the dungeons. He put her down on the cot and closed the door behind him as he walked away. Perhaps a few days alone would do her some good. No visitations other than to bring food and water, and he could compel a human to do that.

Maybe he wouldn't tell his siblings about the girl in their dungeon. This was his problem, not theirs. Yes, that was for the best. He was sure that Elijah had some books on Cold Ones and perhaps Kol heard stories about them. He could always ask hypothetical questions and see where they would lead him. Then again, weren't the Cold Ones the same as the Volturi?

He found Elijah in one of the dens. "Cold Ones and Quileutes are working together," he greeted his brother. "They attacked the school, but they had been warned that something was coming. Hope is alright, as are the other children. Aren't they supposed to kill each other and not work together?"

"You wish to go to Forks and raise some hell, brother?"

"Forks? Washington?"

"Of course," Elijah replied as he looked at his brother. "I have been keeping an eye on their operation for years, but there's not much that I know bar from the fact that they do love their pharmaceuticals and experiments."

"On children, Elijah!" Klaus spat. "We're going to end this, now. How dare they to come after _my daughter_ and almost getting away with it?!"

Elijah smiled then. "Very well. It's been a long time since we've done some proper killing. How does tomorrow sound?"

"Now."

Elijah sighed exaggerated and got to his feet. As he straightened himself up, he nodded. "Now is good, brother. Care to inform the rest of our family? Bring Hayley, perhaps, seeing as Hope is her daughter, too?"

Klaus knew that Kol wasn't home, Rebekah had gone to France that day for a couple of weeks and Freya was out with Keelin. Shrugging, he announced he was going to wait in the car instead.

It didn't take Bella long to get to her senses a little. Klaus had put her in a dark place, reminding her of home, except for the uncomfortable … bed.. He had put her down on. She preferred the floor. And Sam. While it had been warm by day, by night it significantly cooled off and she didn't have Sam to keep her warm. Someone had come by to bring her a plate, three or four times already, and she hadn't taken anything. The bottle of water had been nice, but what had been on the plates was puzzling. It had been hot. Or cold. Sweet. Smelling. Sam would definitely have eaten it all, but this wasn't Bella food. And to bring food that often? That was ridiculous, she didn't need to be fed that often.

She tried to listen to the sounds upstairs, or on the street, and was surprised that there was so much noise around them. She was used to the silence, the bristling of the trees, Sam's snoring. There was music. Or at least she thought it was called music after having picked up on the thoughts of someone passing her window. She used her bed to try and tiptoe to look out the window, since she wasn't being monitored now, but startled when someone slammed their flat hand on the bars of her confinement.

She turned around, eyes wide in shock, squishing herself against the wall as she carefully stepped off the cot.

"Is my brother living out some fantasy of his, or something?" the man asked as he opened the door. "Starve the whore?"

"No sir," Bella stammered as she wished that her space was bigger, so she could have more space between her and the man. She wasn't a whore. She didn't do sex. She was something far worse.

The man hummed as he stepped over a full plate of dinner. "Chef's not going to be happy about you leaving yet another plate untouched," the man said, shaking his head. "Nik compelled him to bring you food, you know. Chef takes pride in his cooking. Is it not to your liking? Because I had to learn from Chef that my brother was keeping a girl down here. Amazing how nobody ever tells me anything."

She blinked at him and cocked her head. He didn't appear to be the person who came to give her her punishment, and certainly didn't sound like one. Did he want her to eat the food? Using the wall and the bars, she moved to the plate, not directly looking at him. She squatted down and picked on something green. Plants she could eat.

"No, darling," the man sighed as he took the plate away and put it outside the space. "That is old and cold. It was delicious when it was nice and hot, though," he said as he walked back in, the girl backing away again. "So tell me, what are you in for? Did you cross Nik? Oh, are you the reason he's away on a business trip now to burn a place down to the ground and kill some wolves?"

Was her people going to end up dead? Was she the reason? Yes. She was abandoned after getting caught trying to be the best that she could be, to be a good girl. She was a bad girl. And her people ending up dead was her punishment. "Yes sir," she said in barely a whisper. She was going to be all alone, she felt that pit in her stomach again, it was unpleasant.

"Nonsense," the man said as he sat down on the cot and looked at her. "You look like you couldn't even hurt a fly. Well, not in the state that you're in. No offense, darling, but you look like you've been through hell, came back and went back to hell. Several times." He sighed then. "Believe me, I know the feeling." When the girl didn't speak, he spoke again. "Which is why, you need to eat. So, tell me what you like to eat and I shall make it for you."

This was strange. Why would she be punished and then to be asked what she'd like to eat and make it sound like an order for her to tell him? ' _Oats and water… please.'_

"Oh, none of that…" he blinked at her after having heard her voice inside his mind. "We're not going to snoop around in my head, you're going to use your words."

Klaus had told her the same. She had been taught to communicate mostly through telepathy, and only use her voice sparsely, mainly because it was thought to make her ability stronger, eventually. Which it didn't, which was a let down to all and Bella was marked to be a failure. A monster. An abomination. A good girl. But now this man had given her an order. "Yes sir."

"So oats and water… that sounds bland. Prison food, but even in prison people get better food than that."

"Normal food, sir," she whispered, half stammering. She didn't like using her voice for full sentences. "Water and oats, sir."

The man let out a breath and nodded before using his vampire speed to get her her food. She was with traditional vampires. Was everyone a vampire here? The difference between her vampires and traditionals were that traditionals looked like humans and they had fangs. And were warm. Klaus hadn't felt cold at all after he grabbed her by the arm. The man was stupid for leaving the door of her confinement open, or perhaps this was a test.

Bella wouldn't try to escape anyway. She couldn't outrun vampires even if she had some energy, and right now, her shield was still not working properly. No, this was her punishment. For getting her people killed. For being defective. She sat down in the corner of her room and hugged her knees to her chest.

She missed Sam.


	3. Chapter 3

The man came back with a bowl of her water and oats and had something to eat for himself, too. He handed her the bowl and a spoon while he sat down on the cot and started to eat. "Now, what's your name, darling?"

"No one, sir," she replied as she brought the bowl to her lips and took a swallow of it. It didn't taste like home, but she had to eat it. She had requested it and there wasn't anything else that she ate. She needed to get used to this. Or perhaps her punishment would be death, too, then it was alright not to get used to this.

"I call shenanigans. Tell me your name," the man said as he took a bite off his bread and sighed happily. "Are you sure you don't want anything else for food? This sandwich is pretty decent!"

"Bella, sir," she replied softly before shaking her head. "No sir, water and oats," she took another swallow from her food. She hadn't had any in days, perhaps even weeks, and the last time Sam had taken it from her. She needed to take it easy or she'd throw up and then be punished for that, too.

"Well, Bella, pleased to meet you, I am Kol Mikaelson."

Mikaelson. Klaus had called himself that. Were they a family like the Cullens? She hadn't seen any medical equipment around and she didn't smell antibacterial soap, either. Not that her room was clean and free from bacteria, that was hard to achieve with a wolf in there and the occasional dead vampire. And of course, whenever she had to pee or do her stool. Just like the wolf. Which is why she was usually hosed down before her examinations. Before the experiments, before everything. Her current situation was a lot cleaner, though she had spotted some rats.

"Are you a victim of those Cold Ones too?"

Victim? No. Nobody was a victim. The children weren't victims either, they were helped. Bella helped just the extreme sad ones to leave. She shook her head. "Renée is the birthgiver, Doctor Carlisle and his family and scientists helped me grow. Trained me. I am one of them." Bella liked Kol's energy, while she sensed that his emotions could get all over the place, she had a feeling he had a better handle on them than Klaus, his brother. "I was supposed to keep Hope with me." And the more she talked, the more they'd believe that she'd be the leader of them, wouldn't they? They'd punish her and leave her family alone.

"And instead she kept you with her," Kol grinned. "Us Mikaelsons are a crafty bunch and that little devil might be worse than all of us combined."

"Hope would have a good life with us, sir," Bella replied, not understanding his reason to grin or to be joyful. "She would have been trained and well taken care of."

"Children need their family, Bella, taking them away from them is a bad thing."

"Is it? Doctor Carlisle made them better. Stronger. Flourish," Bella countered as she took another swallow from her food. "And when they're of age, they get sent to other places to serve."

"What about you, then? You're no longer a child, are you?"

"I am defective, sir. It was safer for everyone if I remained where I was. Even the big bosses are afraid of me," she said sadly. "I would have gladly served and on occasion I can." She put her bowl down then, only half empty. "But I failed. Again. Hope was too strong for me, I wasn't my best. Had Klaus returned me to Edward, I would have been punished severely, perhaps even destroyed. But he didn't want to return me."

"And you're here so Nik can interrogate you."

"And punish me." Yes. She had resigned herself to the idea that death was imminent. Perfect.

Kol nodded then. "Knowing my brother, he'd likely kill you, but he doesn't know your story, does he now? You told me. Why did you tell me?"

Bella thought for a moment, eyeing her bowl, wondering if she should eat more of that, too. "You truly wish to know why I am here. What happened. You are curious and not angry. Or sad. Or filled with hate. Your behaviour is strange, sir."

"Do you wish me to be angry?" The moment he realized she'd been telepathic he had shut down his mind and made sure he had at least some control over his emotions. Despite what she was saying, she was a victim in all of this as well, but that she was raised to believe otherwise. That what the Cullens were doing was alright. Nik needed to know this, badly, or this girl could end up dead, and it would be a shame. She was innocent.

"I don't wish for anything, sir." She quickly replied, slightly spooked. "But you asked and I gave you an answer."

"Bella, do you know what kindness is?"

She nodded then. "Doctor Carlisle calls his experiments kindness. He prides himself to be kind. Emmett says that kindness is when they don't have to punish me and Jasper says I'm being kind whenever I help a child escape."

"Why would you do that?"

"They were extremely sad and hurting my head, they didn't belong with us. I would release them in Jasper's custody and he'd find their people for them."

Highly unlikely. "So you know what they were doing to those children was wrong."

"Not wrong, sir."

She wasn't tripping up. She truly believed that what she had been taught was the truth. Was this girl even salvageable? "Kindness is what you did, releasing those children," he said as he looked at her. "Kindness is me asking you what you want to eat and then bring it to you. Kindness shouldn't ever hurt. As a human, it should make you feel all warm inside when you experience kindness."

"I don't feel anything, sir."

"Yes you do. I can tell you're sad because Nik is hunting down your family."

"My people. The Cullens are a family, but not to me," she quickly said and shook her head. "And I am not sad. They have abandoned me and I'm alone. Should my people die, I'll be truly alone. It's my punishment, sir. Should Klaus return and choose to kill me, then I welcome it."

"Why? Because you fear what will be next in your life? The future is exciting, Bella. The world is a big place, so much to see, so much to do."

"I am dangerous. Defective, sir. I'm a good girl." She then thought for a moment and pushed her bowl of food away. "I don't deserve more. I failed. I should not have vocalized my thoughts. Exposed my people. I should not have done that. I'm a bad girl."

His heart broke then as he nudged the bowl back with his foot. "But wouldn't that be my fault, then? I'm asking you questions and you feel like you can answer them with me. So basically I have made you fail."

"No sir." She had a feeling that her people would escape Klaus Mikaelson's clutches and they'd come for her knowing that she was with him. She couldn't allow herself to get complacent and form thoughts, let alone speak them out loud. Her food had been good, but it had been wrong. She hadn't earned it. She should have resisted Kol's line of questioning, but somehow couldn't. She hadn't slept in a while, perhaps that was it. But had she deserved sleep? No. Not anymore.

He let out a cry of frustration and squatted down in front of her, moving the bowl into her lap. "Bella, I want you to finish this food, do you understand?"

"Yes sir," she whispered.

"And when chef brings you another bowl in a few hours, you will eat that too."

"Yes sir…" More food? She was going to explode! If Sam had been with her, she could have allowed him to eat her food.

"Good. Now, I'm going to wait for Niklaus to return and have a chat with him to see if we can move you to some warmer accommodations. You don't deserve to be down here. You deserve kindness," he said as he made sure she was eating before he left, leaving the door open again. Bella was her own prison, why need a door?

~o.O.o~

It was hard watching the Forks center burn to the ground, and she sincerely hoped that the two traditional vampires had freed all those children in there, first. She wasn't worried about _her_ , due to her vampire hearing she heard the two men talking about _her_ , the younger admitting that he brought something home with him. To interrogate.

They were burning the place to the ground because the Cold Ones came after his daughter and the other's niece, so the two men must be brothers, Myriam concluded. If someone loved someone this passionately, _she_ would be safe, for now. Myriam had other things on her mind, such as tracking down the Cold Ones who escaped and pay a visit to the Phoenix center, because she realized that these guys didn't know about it.

 _Niklaus_ and _Elijah_ were all joyful in deciding to go and kill some wolves. Good, that meant that Myriam could leave and catch up with the Cullens. Kill them all, extract Jasper. And ruin the Phoenix center, the least important one of the two here in America, but still worth destroying. It's what Myriam wanted, it's what she had been training for and it was her fucking duty. But first, she needed to make sure that these two vampires killed Renée and Charlie. If not, Myriam was going to take them with her so that her parents could handle the sorry excuses for humans.

It wasn't that Myriam hated Cold Ones. No, absolutely not. She hated the bad ones, which was about 75%, or perhaps more, of the Cold One population, including the all mighty Volturi. They were the ones who had set this in motion centuries ago, and it was Carlisle Cullen who revolutionized everything within the organisation and took things a few steps further.

In the beginning, Aro Volturi wanted the gifted children. Not to break his own law of creating immortal children, he instructed a few of his vampires to raise the children and then they'd turn them upon coming of age, to go and work for the Volturi.

In the middle, gifted children were drying up, or, were better hidden, and the Volturi had a dry spell until Carlisle Cullen joined the Volturi. He had been a promising young doctor when he was turned, and he found that with his immortality he could learn more, do more and perhaps create more. It all started off with employing alchemists, snatching regular children and trying to make them special. Then, witches joined him, dark witches and warlocks. Werewolves. Traditional vampires. Despite the dry spell, the organisation grew.

Partially to the end, about 22 years ago, Carlisle and his coven met Renée and Charlie Swan, not the best kind of people despite one being the town's sheriff and the other a deranged hippie, but then again, who expected a sheriff and a hippie of child abduction? Murder was never proven, either. The Forks center was filled with normal children who were getting treatments, but Renée and Charlie came with a great offer; Carlisle was allowed to create and modify embryos using Renée's eggs and Charlie's sperm. And, after many tries, 2 years later, Renée was pregnant with a souped up baby.

The last twenty years were the golden age. Believing the child had been a mistake, they reverted back to child snatching and went all over the world in search for special children.

Up until now. Myriam had wanted to burn the center herself; it was what she came here to do and to get _her_ and Jasper out, but she'd been too late. Myriam had finally been ready to do this on her own, and others took it out of her hands. She had been dismantling similar centers all across the world, killing the Cold Ones attached to them as she went along, looking like someone who couldn't possibly be in two places at the same time.

Her parents, a lovely set of Cold Ones, thought it'd be poetic to appear as a victim of the Cold Ones as she slaughtered them, and she always choose _her_. Whenever Jasper managed to get her a picture, she used _her,_ as a reminder that _she_ hadn't been lucky, and Myriam had been.

Myriam's parents were fantastic. They were funny, loving and they didn't mind to train hard, something Myriam had demanded the moment she could speak. For a human, she'd been extraordinary strong and she'd wanted to be a warrior like Xena: Warrior Princess or Robin Hood, to help those who couldn't help themselves and this was even without knowing her own story.

When Myriam turned 18, she asked to be turned. She didn't want anything else for her birthday, she simply wanted to be turned. To become stronger. Faster. To help more people, and that was what she had done for the last two years or so. Free the children. Kill the Cold Ones. The only thing that she missed about being human was the food. Human food was good, so good, especially ice cream and pancakes, but her tastebuds were dead now. All she could taste was sand.

She was going to need an army to defeat the Volturi, but it was fun to make serious dents in their organisation.

It was likely that the Cullens were going to Alaska to lick their wounds and to regroup before going to Phoenix. While the need to kill them was strong, she couldn't help but wonder if _she_ would want to help killing them. Take her revenge and take her life back. Sighing, she sent Jasper a text to come home, and headed to Phoenix. And after that? She was going to track down the traditional vampires to get _her_ back, no matter the costs.

~o.O.o~

"Nik, we need to talk," Kol said as he watched his brothers walk into the courtyard.

"Not now, Kol," Klaus shot at him, annoyed, as he marched to his study. "Now is not the bloody time!"

"Well, then you'll have to make time," Kol followed him and blocked his path. "Why didn't you tell me about the girl in the dungeons? See, I thought I was going mad when I heard an extra heartbeat in the Courtyard, thinking it'd be likely a rat of some sort. Until Chef came to me telling me that the girl hadn't touched his food. You should have told me, before you left."

"She's not your problem, Kol, she is a means to an end and I will release her once I'm done."

"She tried to take Hope. Your release will be her death."

"Nonsense," Klaus huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I will not lay a finger on her if she tells me what I want to know, but she was uncooperative two days ago so I decided to put her in the dungeon, talk to Elijah, and he mentioned he knew about some Cold Ones up in Washington, you know the rest of the story."

"Seems like you've already taken care of the problem, why not release her now?"

Klaus sighed then. "It's true, I could have gone down to release her immediately upon my return, if it hadn't been for this," he pulled a folder from underneath his shirt and handed it to his brother. "Before Elijah and I tore the place apart, I wanted to know about her and we went looking for information. I found more than I bargained for."

Kol only had to look at the first page knowing that this was Bella's file, every detail of her life and how to take care of her written down as if she was some sort of labrat. "Good," Kol said as he handed the file back. "Now I don't have to convince you she's another victim."

"How would you know?"

"She and I talked, quite happily, until she realized she was talking too much and shut down."

"You're lying."

"I'm not. Her name is Bella, she knows how to use her words and she loves water and oats. I doubt she'd ever had anything else, to be honest. The way she looks makes me think she's a victim of war, of concentration camps or our experimental period in France. Oh, and her worldview is skewed, that's a lot of fun."

Klaus handed Kol the file back. "Well, seems like you found yourself a project, brother," he smiled. "Now I can truly focus on finding the Cold Ones as they've absconded once Elijah and I arrived."

"No! Nik, I have things to do, whores to see… I was going to join Rebekah in France!"

"And now you have a little bird in need of your help. Help her, or kill her, it's your choice," Klaus shrugged, already knowing what his brother would choose. Ever since Kol had been a human and then returned as a vampire, he had changed. He saw the world differently and enjoyed it more. He had gone through the pain of losing Davina - Klaus thought that Kol was overreacting, but who was he to judge? - and came out stronger. Klaus had always thought to put a dagger into Kol and forget about him for centuries, again, but family was important. Hope deserved to know all of her aunts and uncles.

Kol narrowed his eyes on his brother. He couldn't believe this, he was supposed to party, go out, have fun, not worry about Nik's problems and now he was responsible for Bella. Well fuck. "Fine. But she's getting her own room, she's not staying down in the dungeons."

"What room would you think is suitable? The one next to yours, perhaps?"

He sighed as he made his way down to the dungeons, he wasn't surprised that in the last 24 hours, Bella hadn't tried to escape through the open door. A stink of vomit and excrement wafted in his face as soon as he opened the door and he took a step back to clear the air a little. There was no way he was going down there. "Darling, it's Kol, are you okay down there?"

"Y-yes sir," Bella didn't sound okay. The smell wasn't okay.

"Be a dear and come to me, just follow my voice."

"I-I'd need to be hosed down first, sir… I'm afraid that my body failed to keep everything on the inside…"

Hosed down? Seriously? He fought the urge to look through the file, he'd rather not know. Stuffing it inside his trousers, he sighed. "Just come to me, it's alright if you're a little smelly." He sure hoped she knew how to use the shower or how to take a bath. She was even paler than the day before, he noticed as she emerged from the dungeons, hesitating, not daring to look at him. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up," he said as he gently pushed her with his finger on her shoulder.

His room was on the ground floor, right off the Courtyard. Annoying when there was a party, but it was the only place where he wouldn't disturb his siblings. The room next door to him was free, and while he didn't fancy having Bella so close to him, it was for the best. This way, she was out of everyone's way too.

He opened the door and smiled at her. "Welcome to your room," he said as he lead her inside. There was a mini den with a sofa and a table, a small kitchenette, a bedroom and a bathroom. Like all the other rooms in the compound it was a mini apartment, this happened to be the smallest. "If there's anything not to your liking, tell me and I will have someone change it for you," he said as he nudged her towards the bathroom. "Go take a shower and clean up, I'm going to see if I can find some clothes you can wear."

When he returned, he was surprised not to see any water damp coming out of the open door of the bathroom, but he could hear the shower running. When he peeked around the corner to check and to grab Bella's dirty clothes to burn them, he was shocked to find out that she was standing under the cold water alone, still fully clothed, standing still.

He needed his sister. There was no way that he was going to instruct Bella on how to take a shower or a bath, and have her undress in front of him. No. Absolutely no way, that would be perverted and disrespectful. If his sister would help out, she could quickly check Bella over for cuts and bruises that needed to be tend to, or do a quick magic spell to see about her health.

"Freya!"


	4. Chapter 4

Freya helped. It took Kol to tell Bella to cooperate with Freya, but Freya helped her to take a nice, warm shower. She showed Bella how to wash her hair, and use the body gel, and left her alone for a couple of minutes while she went out to talk to Kol.

"Is it normal of Klaus to bring a charity case home?" She wondered out loud. She, too, had no idea that Bella had been down in the dungeons for two days. "Because this girl… wow. What a mess."

Kol sighed as he leaned against the doorpost. "How bad is she?"

"She needs to gain a lot of weight. Get her strength back. Detox. Seriously detox from whatever they were giving her for years and years. It's all layered. I did a quick magical sweep, but it's not just magic, it's something else they used on her," Freya sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Klaus said you have her file that he brought back… can I see it? Maybe if they listed all the ingredients I can start whipping up some antidote to help her get rid of everything faster."

He pointed at the table. "Feel free to take it with you after she's done taking a shower, the more help, the better."

"I can ask Keelin if she's willing to check Bella's blood?" Freya suggested before going back into the bathroom, Bella was still standing still underneath the warm water. "What do you think? Better?"

Bella wasn't sure. The warmth reminded her of Sam, though, so it was nice. But to undress to be hosed down with water? That was silly. She watched as Freya - Kol's sister - turned off the water and then handed her something big and fluffy, and she couldn't help but stare at it. "How am I to wear this, ma'am?"

"You're not. You're going to use it to dry your hair and your body," Freya said as she grabbed another towel and used it on herself. "Like this, see?"

Bella started to mimic Freya's movements and ended up scrubbing herself raw with the towel on her arm.

"No, no," Freya quickly grabbed Bella's hand and gently moved it with the towel over her skin. "Gentle. The towel is a tool to soak up all the water on your skin."

"But how do I wear this, ma'am?"

"You don't. I brought you some comfy clothes, nice and fluffy and warm. I'm afraid your clothes will be incinerated seeing as my brothers have an intense sense of smell that even washing powder won't be able to cover up the things on your clothes."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I truly am… I didn't want to offend… but my body rejected the food and I- I failed."

"Hey," Freya dropped the towel and made Bella look at her. "It's not your fault. You have a different diet than we're used to, and you likely haven't had any food for a very long time. It's only natural that your body rejected what we made you. Don't worry about it, okay? We'll find some sort of a balance."

"But water and oats, ma'am…"

"Not healthy, you need vitamins. Sunlight. Comfort food… but baby steps," Freya handed Bella her underwear and her clothes. "Get dressed and explore your room. The bed is extremely comfortable," Freya smiled at her before leaving the bathroom again and headed straight for the file folder. "Definitely more testing and then we need to sit down to make a schedule for her," she told Kol. "Because without one, this girl is lost."

"We?"

"Well… I'll help you with setting things up," Freya smiled at her brother. "Even have Keelin come in for Bella's blood, but once we've done it all, you're on your own. I'm not going to be some grown woman's caregiver and I'm sorry, Kol, but it's about time you men do something out of your comfort zone." She then laughed. "And you know what? I want to bet Rebekah will say the same!"

"Freya…"

"Have fun, I'm going to do some 'light' reading!" Freya waved at him when Bella exited the bathroom and headed out.

"Look at you!" Kol smiled at Bella as she was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a fuzzy sweater, both a few sizes too big, but it looked adorable. "How was your shower? Did you enjoy yourself?"

"It was needed, sir," Bella responded. "But a hose would have been sufficient and less instructional. You shouldn't invest time in me, sir." The clothes were itching.

Kol shrugged as he motioned for her to sit down at the table, on a chair and then smiled at her when he sat across from her. "I have spoken to my brother and he's decided to be lenient. Yes, it was wrong of you to work with the Cold Ones and the werewolves to take his daughter, he also realized that you didn't have a choice in the matter and he is more proud of his daughter for catching you instead." When Bella didn't respond, he continued. "He's burned your former home to the ground and killed some werewolves in the process. The Cullens got away."

There was a glimmer of hope still. They were still alive, surely they'd come to take her back. She needed to be on her best behavior, be a good girl. Have her thoughts as loud as she could make them and make decisions. It was likely that the Cullens were in Alaska by now, but that didn't matter. They would come for her and take her to the other home where it was warmer. Yes.

"Nik will of course, do everything in his power to find them, and he's left me in charge over you," Kol said as he kept looking at her, wondering what was going on in her mind. "What are you thinking of, darling?"

"Nothing, sir."

Kol hummed then as he grabbed a banana off the table and peeled it before taking a bite. "I think I know. You're probably thinking that with _your people_ having escaped my brother, they will come for you and take you back with them," he guessed, a knowing smile on his face. "But, you see, Nik told me that your friends backed off at the mention of his name, so even in that circle of vampires, they know that he's not one to mess with. I sincerely doubt they'll come for you and I'm not going to release you so you can go back to them."

Bella blinked at that. "You're going to keep me, sir?"

He nodded and carefully chose his next words. "I'm going to use your words. I'm keeping you here. I'm going to take care of you and make sure that you'll become stronger, and happy. Just like the children you and _your people_ took."

"What if I want to leave, sir?"

"I'd like to see you try."

Bella liked to hear that. If she was stronger, on full strength and not in her weakened state, she would be able to walk out of this building and seek help. Go back to her people. It was going to take some time, and it was going to be a challenge, but she was going to take herself back. _They_ would be proud of her, because she was a good girl. The question remained, however, how was she going to get stronger without the syringes with things in them, or her real oats and water? Or the bottle of water with things in them that her birth giver gave her on occasion?

He saw a look of sheer determination come across her face before it slightly faltered. Good, she had accepted the challenge and he couldn't wait to see what she'd try. He finished eating his banana before peeling another and handed it to her. "Here, eat this. It'll help you with your stomach aches. It's really good, and sweet. You'll like it."

Another instruction. She gently took the banana and nibbled on it. The texture was that of her oats, but better. She didn't have to use her teeth much to chew it and could almost swallow it immediately. And the taste, it was unlike anything she had tasted before and before she knew it, she had finished it and had to fight the instinct to lick her fingers. It wasn't food she was supposed to eat, it wouldn't make her strong, but this family was different. They had different instructions and different ways. Bella needed to learn them quickly, to make sure that they'd like her and then, when she could use her shield again, she'd go. "Thank you, sir."

"If you need to use the toilet, it's right in there," he said as he pointed at the closed door. "Don't throw up or have your bowel movements in your room, but in there. And after you're done, you push the button and it'll disappear from the toilet bowl," he said as he looked at her, wanting to feed her something else but if she was feeling poorly, it was best not. "When was the last time you got some sleep?"

"A few nights ago, sir. I had my eyes closed for a while while Sam kept me warm."

"Who's Sam?"

"A defective wolf, sir. He wasn't aware of his own actions anymore nor could he turn back to his human self."

"They had you in one room with an unstable werewolf? How did you survive? That's insane!"

"Not really, sir, he was my responsibility. My failure," she replied solemnly. "If Klaus did burn my home to the ground, Sam is no longer with us."

Why would she say that? It was likely that he was going to find out the moment Freya had read Bella's file, but why would she say that? She looked like she couldn't even push someone out of her way at the moment, let alone hurt someone. "Does that make you feel sad?"

"It's probably for the best, sir. Sam wouldn't be able to survive on his own and he was already abandoned by his pack."

Interesting, and it made him curious. "Would you be able to survive on your own?"

"Yes sir," she replied confidently.

She had to be able to, if she had been roommates with an out of control wolf. Of course. "Very well," Kol smiled at her and got to his feet. "This is your room now. Feel free to walk around or do whatever you want within these walls. If someone wants to come inside, they will knock on the door first before opening it, alright?"

"Yes sir," Bella replied and watched him leave, closing the door behind him. She took the time to really look around in her new confinement and she wasn't sure what to make of it. She sat down on the floor instead, never having liked chairs that much anyway, and she was wondering if she was going to share her space with someone else. It was far too big for her punishment and it looked strange.

She had found the shower to be an adventure, but had quickly learned that this family did things differently than her people. Feeling the water on her naked body was a strange thing, and then the water, it was special, it wasn't the right temperature, but her body seemed to like it, her aching bones responding positively to it. It was a step in the right direction to become strong again. And then the cloth! The towel! She had to dry herself off before getting into clothes? And while the clothes she'd been provided with were really warm and itchy, she found it strange, did they punish people with items that were actually pleasant?

Bella knew that she shouldn't think of warm water and warm clothes as something pleasant. She couldn't get used to it because she was still going home. Just like the banana, she wasn't allowing herself to get used to it. She was going to get strong and push everyone out of the way. Not scrambling anyone's brains, because nobody deserved that.

She hated being the one who'd been taken and who had her people still out there. She now understood why some children felt the way that they did upon arriving in Bella's home. It was foreign and unpleasant, and different. She started to yawn, the room was getting warmer now, and it felt as if Sam was with her. Nice and warm. She laid down on the floor and curled herself up, before giving in to the sleep that her mind and body so desperately needed.

~o.O.o~

It was a pleasant surprise that Jasper joined her in Phoenix, and of course, their reunion needed to be celebrated to the fullest, binging on some lowlives, getting high on blood before having a good romp for a day or two. Something they both had needed for different reasons. Myriam loved blood and sex, Jasper needed Myriam to reclaim him, make him smell like her again and not like the squeaky clean Cullens. It had been one of his toughest jobs, especially since he'd been _involved_ in the not so pretty side of the whole organisation, but he'd been the only one capable of doing this. His skillset was what had made him perfect for this.

It just sucked that he had to pretend to love someone else, to have sex with someone else, while Myriam had to make do with random sex every now and then to scratch an itch.

Jasper was Peter's brother, but not even by blood, simply because they had been in the war together, Jasper had sired Peter. Had they all been relatives by blood, this whole situation would be so fucked up, but the moment that Myriam and Jasper felt that they couldn't stay away from each other anymore was the moment that they told Peter and Charlotte, and surprisingly, they had been okay with it. In their eyes it was better that she'd be with someone they knew rather than some random stranger.

They went to town on the Phoenix center. Completely nuts. They freed the children held there, although there weren't many, killed all the Cold Ones and remaining wolves, and then smashed everything to pieces before setting the place alight. Overkill, but it was so satisfying to let out the rage. And then fuck again. And again.

It never crossed her mind to ask him about _her_ , but as their emotions wound down over the next few days, she could finally think straight again. "Why is she with traditionals?"

Jasper let out a groan as he put his arms around her as they were enjoying the jacuzzi in their hotel room. "Botched extraction, although I'm fairly certain it wasn't her fault. From what I could piece together was that _she_ hadn't been given food for over a week, and when they wanted her, they gave her food and the mutt ate it. She got her injections on the way to the location and one of the wolves brought one of the children to her to protect."

"What went wrong?"

"Magic school. The child was a powerful witch and likely weakened her shield, weakening her in the process and well, the child took her instead."

"What?"

"I know," Jasper started to laugh. "As it turns out, the child's father is none other than Klaus Mikaelson, the hybrid, quite the scary one if you have to believe the stories."

"I saw him in Forks after they burned the place down."

"Yeah? What's your opinion of him?"

"I don't know," Myriam said thoughtfully. "I mean, it was obvious that the act was a retaliation of some sort, and if someone cares about someone that deeply, then he's an alright guy in my book. If she's in his custody, which she likely is, she needs to be extracted, but he could possibly become an ally for us against the Cold Ones, help us to take down the Volturi perhaps, seeing as we'll need an army for that, and it's just the four of us now."

"Oh, I don't know, sugar," Jasper purred in her ear as his hand traveled down her torso under the water. "The Mikaelsons are quite scary, they are the patriarchs of the traditional line, the so-called Originals. Rumor is that they can't be killed and you can't make deals with them because while one may give his word that nothing happens, another member might break that word because they never made that agreement. Klaus Mikaelson is the monster underneath the beds of the traditionals, although another rumor is is that with the birth of his daughter, he has mellowed somewhat."

"But I'm still going to get her back. I can kill other Cold Ones, so why wouldn't I be able to kill them if I have to?"

"You could try, but I doubt you'd want him as our enemy. Diplomacy is the way to go… if you don't get killed on sight for being a Cold One yourself."

Myriam sighed as she rested her head against his shoulder, enjoying his fingers playing with her underneath the water. "Well, I suppose I'll have to look like _her_ to get a shot at it."

"Or perhaps visit a few traditionals to ask what's the best course of action, you know very well that the Cullens don't like it when someone shows up to talk them directly when they don't know the person. You may not be able to kill them, but they _can_ kill you. No matter how strong or fast you are. You're still vulnerable. _She_ has a shield and is able to protect you, though."

"Yeah, but _she_ doesn't even know who I am to her because nobody bothered to tell her!" Myriam said frustrated. "Not even you!"

"By not giving the information she needed, I kept her safe, Myriam. She kept asking me questions, yes, she has a curious mind. But she's not allowed to form a thought of her own or have her own opinion. Or questions, you know this. If I had told her about you, she would have been confused, which would have resulted in more sessions with Doctor Carlisle and his tools and concoctions created by the shaman or witches." He nuzzled her earlobe. "Your reunion won't be easy with her, you two are far too different and she might think you're going to take her back to the Cullens. Because you're a Cold One."

"Then come with me. She knows you. She trusts you and you can help me with the Mikaelsons."

"I'll be close by. Again, if she sees me, she'll truly believe we're going to take her back to Forks or take her to Alaska, and that's not going to happen."

"Okay," Myriam let out a breath. "We can do this. Let's go and find some traditionals."

"What, now? I'm trying to have sex with you here!"

"Yes, now."


	5. Chapter 5

Kol didn't know what Keelin and Freya were talking about when it came to the contents of Bella's blood stream, and he didn't particularly care because Freya was 'taking care of it'. They had already slipped some cleansing herbs into Bella's food and Freya even cleansed her up close with some spells, but it was going to take time to undo all the magic, and she wasn't even sure she was supposed to undo all the magic, as she and Keelin had discovered that magic was in her DNA, amongst other junk.

However, he cared about the other things that Freya had informed him, and Klaus, of after reading Bella's file. She had, on many occasions, had had _uncharacteristic temper tantrums_ or _freak outs_ and had turned brains to mush. Vampires had to be destroyed, and who better to do that than the wolf Bella had broken? In her cell, nonetheless! Right in front of her, too.

As of right now, it didn't seem like Bella was going to freak out any time soon or have a temper tantrum. No, she was passive and only 'lived' underneath her table. The bed hadn't been slept in, at all. She had grown more alert by the day, but Klaus posed a 'what if' question. What if she'd do such a thing? Not only would they be affected, but also the area around them, worst case scenario. But it could also mean nothing, that it was something else that had hurt those vampires and the wolf.

Bella was mildly telepathic, that was something they had already discovered, and were glad that she was using her words upon their request. But the only ability that hadn't fully branded her as a 'failure' was her shield ability. She could trap someone in her shield, and it could deflect objects. People. Very useful in a child snatching situation. Was this ability the reason she'd been able to take care of herself with a demented wolf sharing her space with her?

And also very useful is she wanted to make a run for it.

Oh, he was in trouble. He had challenged her to escape and she had been determined to try. Truthfully, ever since learning of that ability, he made sure that all of her exits were blocked when he went outside or had a quick nap. She'd never make it out there by herself.

Bella had been eating better than she had previously; he made sure that she'd still get some of her oats, but then warm, with milk and berries and other fruits in the morning, some fruit in the afternoon and he'd tried to get her to eat some meat in the afternoon but she claimed to be too full to eat. Maybe skipping lunch was a better idea. However, she was pinking up even after a couple of days, still frail, but pinking up. And now he had to be careful. She was eating regularly, and she was getting stronger.

"You've neglected to tell me something, darling," he said after knocking on her door and letting himself in, a playful smile on his face as he brought her a glass of orange juice and sat down at the table. She looked at him from her spot on the floor, puzzled, before getting to her feet and sitting down opposite of him. "You have other abilities than merely your telepathy."

This wasn't good, he knew what she could do. While she wasn't at full strength, she could make a run for it now. Run away. Escape. But even though she could push people away with her shield, she couldn't run fast, she was only human. She'd get caught eventually, that was the only reason why she hadn't attempted to run away the day before, because she realized that she was a human, and she was surrounded by vampires. She looked down to her hands and nodded. "Yes sir, but you've never asked, either."

"You're not going to hurt my mind, are you?"

"N-no, sir!" She was slightly panicked, knowing that it was a bad thing to hurt other people and she didn't like her accidents. "I'm a good girl, sir!"

"Relax," he said soothingly. He had tried to compel her, but it hadn't worked and Nik had laughed at him for even trying, because he already knew that the girl couldn't be compelled. "I'm not worried. I understand that it's a part of you that you don't like to tell people about. After all, I'm your enemy, aren't I? You're still waiting for your Cold Ones to come back for you and you're merely biding your time. I understand, darling," he replied, a small smile on his lips. "You've been instructed well on that part. Very smart. I like that."

She watched him rise from his seat again and there was no doubt in her mind that he was going to punish her for having those thoughts as he opened the door.

"Come on then," he said as he pointed at the door. "The door's open. The gate towards the outside is open. It basically never closes, so…" he shrugged as he leaned against the doorpost. "Let's go."

She was unsure what to do. He didn't sound angry with her, but there was something in his voice that was different than before.

"I said, come here. Let's go," he said a bit more forcefully and hated himself as the girl scrambled to her feet and nearly tripped over them as she made her way over to him. "You have been here for a week, Bella," he said as he gently pushed her in the right direction. "Granted, your first two days were a bit of a bad start on our behalf, but we have showed nothing but kindness to you, trying to help you get better, while you were here," he continued as he kept pushing her towards the exit. "We've not done anything to hurt you, nor have we experimented on you. We've been trying to understand what's been done to you so we can undo it and continue to help you. But that's not enough for you, is it?"

"Y-you're trying to confuse me, sir," Bella stammered as she felt the cold tiles of the courtyard underneath her feet. "You're trying to break me, because you think I had it bad at home and my-"

"We took you, like you were taking children. To give you a better life, like you did for those children. But we never hurt you, and the thanks we get for that is you're wanting to leave. Well, go ahead. Leave. See how long you last out there on your own. You're alone, Bella, truly alone. The center in Phoenix has been burned down, you have nowhere to go." He shoved her over the threshold for good measure. She looked ridiculously out of place in the heat with her sweatpants, bare feet and fluffy cardigan. "Oh, and as you can see, New Orleans is too sunny for your kind of vampire to roam around in, especially by day, so I suppose… in three days or so someone might come and get you? But allow me to remind you, that they abandoned you. They could have taken you easily from Niklaus but they abandoned you. Left you." He closed the gates behind her and locked them, before walking away.

He had no idea why, but he felt hurt, and he hated Nik for making him take care of the girl who clearly didn't want to be helped. Perhaps it was cruel of him to treat her like this, but she needed to learn a lesson. No more kid gloves. If she'd truly leave the vicinity, he could always find her, her scent was burned into his nostrils, and he hated that. He hated himself for still wanting to save this girl and show her that life was to be enjoyed. He hated that he cared. He hated that he was fighting himself for walking back and to pull her back in. No, he wasn't going to do that. At least not for a few hours. She needed to witness life outside the walls and realize that her life wasn't normal and that he was merely trying to help her, yes.

Bella looked at Kol's retreating back and she wasn't sure what to do. He had let her go, just like that. Even locked the gate so she couldn't get back in, but why would she want to get back in? She had liked his visits, she never received many visits when she was in confinement, but she also knew she had to go back home. Was this another test? What would happen if she'd truly walk away, would he come back to stop her? Did she want him to stop her?

She sat down at the gate and pulled her knees towards her chest, making herself as small as possible as she tried to make sense of her conflicting thoughts. Her loyalty was supposed to be to the Cullens, to her people, but they did abandon her and allowed her to be taken by Kol's brother. Just like that. Because she was defective and they didn't like her, anyway. They weren't going to get her. To them, she may be dead, or perhaps she'd be that soon due to her change of diet.

Kol treated her like Jasper would. Like someone who was allowed to have her own thoughts and opinions, he asked her questions to make her think, and was being locked in a room that was warm that bad? It was different, because these vampires had a different lifestyle. She had to use a toilet and the shower. She wasn't allowed to feel anything, but she couldn't help but feeling warm. Everything was light, not dark. And Kol had been right, there were no experiments by doctors, only that one time when the girl doctor came to pull blood out of her body instead of injecting her with something. That had been strange. Or how Freya started to speak in a different language and blew smoke in her face on several occasions, that had been extremely strange.

She had seen everything as a punishment. The food. The shower. The room. The talking. But it hadn't been a punishment, she didn't have to pretend it didn't hurt because it didn't hurt. It hadn't hurt. Not being allowed back into the building was what hurt. Because now she was alone. All alone. No one was going to come to help her, and while she had said she was capable of taking care of herself, she wasn't. Her strength would diminish over the course of a week or two, depending on how much food she had had, and she had had a lot in the last few days.

She was like the children she had sent home; ungrateful and unfit for a different life, hanging on too much onto the past, from the place they'd been taken. But, in her case, there wasn't someone like Jasper who'd bring her home. There wasn't a home to go home to, she didn't know where New Orleans was, or Alaska, for all she knew it was worlds apart or extremely close, but how was she going to get there? By herself?

The main question she needed to ask herself was; if she'd run into a Cold One now, would she beg them to take her home? Or would she run away? Because there were good Cold Ones and bad Cold Ones. And not every Cold One knew each other. And according to Jasper, most of them didn't even like each other. There were even Cold Ones who wanted puppets so they could have their way with them, and according to Doctor Carlisle, that was a bad thing, especially for Bella.

Kol had asked her if she'd hurt him and she said 'no', because he was a good person, a good vampire, and he didn't deserve to end up like Sam had. And he had told her to leave, because he discovered her plans, her thoughts, about leaving. But now that she was outside, it was scary. It was getting dark, people were getting louder and were tripping over her because she was in the way.

She couldn't breathe. Her chest felt heavy and she couldn't breathe, she could feel her insides tingle, her brain was swimming and she couldn't breathe. The last time this happened she'd hurt a handful of vampires and she was far too close to the building for this to happen now. This wasn't good. She couldn't contain it in her bubble, they didn't work well together. Bella needed to run and hope she'd be as far away as possible from the building when she'd explode.

She tried to get up but was knocked over by a passerby and that knocked the air straight out of her chest. No. It was happening. There were tears rolling down her cheeks. Tears were a foreign thing to her, and they always came when she couldn't breathe. She couldn't allow her to hurt Kol or his family, they didn't deserve it. Nobody deserved it, but she couldn't stop it. The least she could try was to direct it into one direction. Not to her back, but only towards the front, outward.

Her brain exploded then, she let out a cry as the sharp pain shot right through her head, causing her to start breathing again as several people dropped in the street before her, a car was coming right for her but she was just in time to put up her shield so it bounced right off, into a building opposite.

She hugged her knees to her chest again and started to sob. She had hurt people again, because she was hurt. She was alone and now there were people hurt. It had been her fault. She was a bad girl. A very bad girl, what was going to happen to her now? She should have allowed that car to hit her, it's what she deserved.

~o.O.o~

Jasper had sensed her from miles away and they had to hurry, _she_ could hurt a lot of people if she was set off, and he worried about the safety of others. Unfortunately, they arrived too late, there'd been no sign of _her_ , and Klaus and a pretty little blonde were doing damage control.

Myriam felt how her heart sank. "What exactly makes her do this?" She questioned as they watched from afar. "I mean, this is bad, Jasper. She's a danger to people around her, how the hell are we supposed to take care of her?"

"Well, we can take care of her because I can regulate her emotions," Jasper replied coolly, hating the scene before them. "Ease her into feeling things the way things should be felt. She was taught not to feel. Not to show any emotion, but under duress or extreme stress, she can't stop herself from feeling and everything comes at once. Then this happens." He nodded towards the building next to the street. "She's in there. She's confused, or she's feeling torn about something. She's also sad and lonely. She feels abandoned. Shame. Defective. It'll take a few hours for her to compose herself again, but she's haven't had an episode like this for about a year now. She knows she's a danger to everyone."

"So it's something mental. I can deflect this," Myriam realized. "I can make sure nobody gets hurt, and we weren't fast enough."

"Unfortunately we weren't," Jasper agreed, feeling how sad Myriam was about all of this. "But if it makes you feel any better, the person who's now with her seems to adore her. They're not like the Cullens, Myriam, perhaps she's better off with them."

"No. She's better of with _us_ ," she said determined. "I didn't come this far to leave her with some wannabe vampires who, whatever their intentions might be, could turn her into a weapon. You've said it yourself, Klaus Mikaelson is a monster."

"And yet, he genuinely seems to be affected by the people in the street."

"I don't care. I'm going to get her back. Now. We're so close!"

He put a hand on his lover's shoulder. "Let them deal with the fallout first. For now, she's safe. Your presence will only aggravate them."

"Let go of me."

"Myriam," he said calmly as he reached out to her with his gift, only to have it reflected back. "That's not fair."

"No, you're not being-" She narrowed her eyes before turning around, coming face to face with a traditional vampire. "What do you want?"

"Your kind is not welcome in the Quarter," the vampire replied as several more vampires appeared behind him. "We're here to keep the Quarter safe, especially after what has just happened."

"Bite me, asshole," Myriam spat, and wanted to take the vampire down, but Jasper held her back. "Jasper!"

"They're Klaus' vampires. It won't look good for you if you kill them now. Let's leave."

"Oh, but I can't allow you to leave either," the vampire replied. "You're coming with me, I'm sure I know someone who would love for you to pay for your atrocities against children, especially his daughter."

Myriam growled when the vampires took hold of them and couldn't help but to kill them all in one fell swoop. "You see, that's the downside of your kind, you're so damn breakable," she snarled, leaving the one who was seemingly in charge alive. "Don't put your filthy hands on me again! Let's go, Jasper."

"You need to calm down," Jasper said once they were sufficiently far away from the French Quarter. "You're of no use when you're like this."

"I am _this_ close to get her and I can't get to her! That's ridiculous! Just let me march in there and get her, what's so hard about that? Fuck it, we don't need Klaus Mikaelson as an ally, I just want her, we'll fight the Volturi on our own if we have to!"

He sat her down. He understood her rage and in her rage she wouldn't be able to see reason. "You need to calm down, we'll discuss this when you've calmed down. Let me help you."

"Don't you dare," she warned him. "Jasper, I love you, but I will kill you if you try that again."

He held his hands up in complete surrender. "Fine, but you need to promise me not to do anything while you're feeling like this."

"I promise," she snapped as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked out over the city from the rooftop they were on. "This fucking sucks!" She yelled at nobody in particular.


	6. Chapter 6

Oh, he knew he was in trouble. Klaus had only needed to give him _that_ look after Bella released everything and people dropped in the street, but it had been needed. He had figured it was tied to her emotions and he wanted to make sure that the pressure went off the cooker. Perhaps then she'd start to see reason, that she didn't have to escape to go back. Kol hadn't expected, however, that while the people dropped in front of the building that he and his siblings would be knocked off their feet by all the emotions she'd been feeling.

He had opened the gate and scooped her up, off the streets as Klaus, Elijah and Freya went outside for damage control and had taken her inside her space, onto the sofa and he had wrapped her up in a warm blanket and was now holding her as she was still sobbing. He hadn't seen her cry before, because _they_ had taught her not to. Didn't they know humans needed to cry every once in awhile? That their emotions and feelings were valid, how small or petty they may have seen? Or perhaps they wanted Bella to be desensitized, so that she'd be a mindless drone. "You're alright, darling," he said soothingly as he gently rubbed her back. "You're alright."

"I'm a bad person," she sobbed. "I hurt people."

"You're not a bad person, Bella. If anything, I'm the one in trouble for pushing you to your limits like that," he said, which made her look up to him with her tearstained eyes. "Nik might actually put me back into my box," he said with a slight chuckle, but there was no joking around. "I shouldn't have done what I did, I apologize. But you're not a bad person, just so you know."

"But-"

"The people who were affected, and their families, will be compensated, quite generously, because of a gas leak in a drug lab down the street, coming up from the sewers and knocking them all back, don't worry about it," he told her.

"I never want to do that… it just happens…"

"How about, from now on, you're voicing all of your feelings and emotions? No doubt you've been experiencing them and thinking about them, but tell me how you feel. You're allowed to, you know. For a start, I can tell you that I'm quite scared that Nik is going to put me away for scaring you so."

"I wasn't scared," Bella said softly as she rubbed her eyes, but not moving from how they were sitting. "I can't be scared. I'm confused and I'm alone. You seemed to be glad to see me leave. I… they left me. They abandoned me and allowed Klaus to take me here. And then he went after them. And destroying things and… they weren't coming for me. I was alone and then you… You came to visit me and made me smile. Feel something, but I'm not allowed to feel. And you told me to leave because you found out I still wanted to leave, but I don't. Kol, I don't want to leave. There's nothing for me and I-I am willing to try to become more like you. To try and see things differently."

She called him Kol, not sir. This made him feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. In fact, she hadn't used 'sir' since she started to be able to form coherent sentences again. "Is that the truth or are you saying that because you know I want to hear that?"

"No! It's… no, it's me. It's me. Please," she said desperately, clinging onto him like a small child. "I don't ever want to feel alone again. Please. Help me. I'll do everything, just don't leave me. I'll try to forget my training. Train me your way. Please."

His heart broke for her. She was riding an emotional rollercoaster right now, and she was a mess. Hell, even he was still reeling from everything that he felt coming off of her while she had her meltdown. He sure hoped that she'd still think this way once she'd gone through it all. Pulling her closer to him, he slowly nodded. "Try to get some sleep, darling," he said softly. "It's been a trying evening for you."

"You're not leaving?"

"I'll be still here when you wake, I'm not moving."

Bella was quiet for a while and he was pretty sure she'd dozed off until he heard her whisper. "Kol?"

"Yes, darling?" He liked hearing her say his name.

"Is this kindness?"

He chuckled at that. "Darling, everything I've done for you this week is kindness, although pushing you like I have this evening is a little thing called tough love. You do that when you can't get through to someone because they're so stubborn."

"I'll stop with that," she whispered again. "I like kindness."

"So do I, darling, so do I," he smiled as she then dozed off with a tiny, satisfying smile on her face and, in that moment, he found her absolutely beautiful.

A couple of hours later, Bella startled awake as Klaus just about kicked down the door and advanced on her and Kol, who had been startled awake as well. She quickly put up her shield and Klaus bounced off of it. Klaus was filled with rage and it was directed to the both of them. She couldn't allow him to hurt Kol. She simply couldn't. _Kindness_.

"Lower that shield, Bella," Klaus growled at her. "Or I swear, I'll-"

"No, sir," she replied. She was only going to lower the shield when Kol told her to, she liked Kol. Klaus, not so much. He was always filled with so much anger and rage, she could even sense it when he was on the other side of the building, it was that intense.

"Nik, let me explain…"

"Explain? She," Klaus angrily pointed at Bella as he continued to speak. "Is a danger to us all! You knew this and yet, you decided to push her to her limits! Twenty people got hurt, Kol! Twenty people because you wanted to prove a point! Couldn't you have taken her somewhere quiet with no humans around to do your little experiment!"

"It was a spur of the moment thing," Kol said with a shrug.

"Twenty people?" Bella asked with a small voice. That must be a record, but these were ordinary humans and that wasn't good. "I'm-"

"Don't say it, darling," Kol said gently before looking at his brother again. "It won't happen again."

"No, it won't, because she's going to move out, she's a danger to the Quarter, to New Orleans. You can take her to our safe house outside the city."

"Nik!"

"Or kill her. She's no longer welcome in my house!" A wave of fear rolled off of the hybrid, one that made a great impact on Bella.

"He's not angry, he's afraid," she said softly. "Like they were, but they couldn't send me away because nobody wanted me. H-he believes I might use it on him, but I would never! I tried so hard to make sure you weren't affected! A-and it won't happen again! I promise! I-I'll be a good girl!"

She was tensing up, he could feel it and it was all because of his brother forgetting to tuck his feelings away, and his thoughts, in this case. "Shh, breathe," Kol soothed her. "I believe you." Granted, she was a danger to them all, but they were more protected here. Not all the Cold Ones responsible for her _care_ were dead yet and, he really needed Freya's help with the magical aspect of Bella's troubles. "I'm going outside with my brother to talk to him, okay? I'll be safe. I promise. You won't have to shield me."

Bella removed her shield from Kol but kept hers up, just in case. When Kol left the space as he pushed his brother out, she got off the sofa and sat down in a corner, hugging her knees to her chest, trying to keep breathing. She wouldn't mind being sent away, if that's what they wanted, then she had to be sent away. And if Kol decided to leave her alone, then that was alright too. She was a monster. She had hurt twenty people, innocent humans who were now hurt for the rest of their lives. She didn't deserve _kindness_. She deserved to be punished. Death.

"Do you have any idea what you just did, Nik?" Kol said furiously as he pushed his brother into the courtyard. "I was making progress with her and now it's likely that I have to start all over again!"

"She's a danger to us all!"

"And you knew that! You can't deny her presence in this house merely because the unthinkable happened and you had to clean up her mess!" Kol shot at him. "Even without this ability, she's a danger to us all because frankly, I'm not convinced that the Cold Ones have given up on her."

"We can't die, Kol," Klaus rolled his eyes at him. "But we can get our insides turned into jelly!"

"And she made sure that didn't happen." Kol said calmly. "Instead, we all got to feel what she was feeling, every sordid feeling from the past year, since her last meltdown. Don't you get it, Nik? They made her like this by denying her to feel. In a way, she's like you, a timebomb, waiting to go off. Or like me, really, you know how I can get when I get really angry. We are all dangerous creatures, and fortunately, I believe that we can make her less of a danger. She's more relaxed now, open to everything. I simply need more time."

"I have to say that for once, I'm on Kol's side, brother," Elijah said as he walked down the staircase towards his brothers. "She didn't hurt us."

"And she won't," Kol was convinced that she wouldn't.

"The girl can't live on her own and we can't risk her going back to the Cold Ones. She has seen too much, knows too much. It's best we keep her here and give our brother some more time," Elijah continued as he stood next to his brother. "I, too, have read her file as Freya needed some help figuring things out. To my knowledge, she hasn't killed anyone, merely incapacitated them for the rest of their lives and they were all accidents."

"Caused by her getting a meltdown because you can't stop humans from feeling and think that it's going to be alright," Kol muttered. "She's fine now. I'll make sure she stays that way, but you barging in like that didn't help, Nik."

"The girl stays," Elijah decided. "Merely because you wanted to help her and now you'll have to see it through despite you pawning her off to our youngest brother." He then sighed and looked at Kol. "You may return to the girl now, Kol, I will handle Niklaus." Elijah then hesitated, wondering if he should give this piece of information and then decided yes. "Marcellus encountered two Cold Ones in the Quarter tonight, the female killed those he had been patrolling with, but kept him alive."

"So they are coming for her!"

"Let them come," Elijah said quietly as he lead his brother to his study. "Go back to the girl, Kol, see if you can undo some of the damage Niklaus has done."

Kol went to fetch himself a blood bag first and finished it before going back to Bella. He found her in the corner of the room, once again made herself as small as possible. He took the blanket off the sofa and sat down next to her, wrapping her up in the blanket and put his arm back around her. "You don't have to leave," he said softly and gently squeezed her arm. "Majority vote, and Nik was outvoted."

"Twenty people…"

Kol huffed. "That's nothing. You didn't even kill them. In the past, we used to decimate entire villages. Eat them. Burn houses, create chaos and mayhem. And look at us now, we only kill for sports or when we're under siege!"

She blinked at him in surprise. "But you're a vampire, that's what you do."

"True," he nodded. "But as the times change, so did we. Granted, there are times where I'd love nothing but to eat my way through an entire party for shits and giggles, but that rarely happens these days."

"Why?"

He then told her about his time as a human, recently, and everything that he had learned. She listened intently and he made sure that he mentioned that it had been a long process for him to learn to have some control over his bloodlust, and his emotions. He told her about how he was the wild one of the family, and how he was the one who needed to create a mess at times so his family could be safe and feel better about themselves for not having done atrocious things themselves. "Change doesn't happen overnight, Bella, but making an effort is half the battle."

"But I'm a monster."

"Nah, compared to us you're a saint," he smiled at her. "You're a good girl and in time you'll get even better. But the most important thing is that you're not leaving. I am not going to take you away and bring you some place else."

"We're safe?"

"Of course!"

She finally moved then and shifted so she was sitting against him again, like they had sat on the sofa. Only time would tell if she'd remain this open to talking openly, and not referring to him as 'sir', but for now, he actually liked the way that she was and he was going to try his very best not to allow his family to corrupt her, to make sure she found her own way and her own two feet amongst them. But for now, he was glad that she allowed herself to fall back asleep.

Kol left her alone for most of the next day and the day after that, he managed to get Bella out in the courtyard for breakfast. A glorious platter of assorted fruits, all the colors and they were all for her to try. And a stack of pancakes. Who didn't love pancakes? To switch up on her bananas and orange juice. Granted, Bella's orange juice contained something Freya concocted to try and eliminate some of the magical damage done to Bella, but it was time for Bella to experience more food choices. Again, within reason, seeing as her body was still getting used to regular food sessions and bowel movements. Kol knew that Bella hurt, at times, but she never showed it.

She had the freedom to be curious, the freedom to feel and the freedom to share what she wanted to share, and while it was hard for her, she was making an effort. "Oh, what's that?" Bella pointed at the cup of tea, her nose nearly in it as she tried to smell it. "It's hot?"

"That's tea, darling," Kol laughed. "And yes, it's hot. When it's cooled down somewhat, you can have a taste."

"Why is it hot?"

"Because some beverages, and most food, are best enjoyed hot," he said as he rolled up a pancake for her and handed it to her. "This is a pancake, and it's warm. You can even have your banana rolled into it and I happen to know that it's delicious with chocolate."

The pancake felt moist and warm in her hand, but it smelled good. She nibbled on it and than sat down in her chair to eat it all. It was delicious!

Bella let out just the tiniest of giggles as she finished her pancake and it was adorable. He hadn't really heard her laugh or giggle in the last few days and it was great that she was allowing herself to enjoy things. "That good, huh?" He asked, a big smile on his face. "Would you like another one?"

"Can I? I think there's still room for one more…"

"Of course," he handed her another pancake but frowned when she stiffened. "What's wrong, darling?"

She believed she had sensed Jasper. It felt like him, the way he slipped into her mind. And while Jasper had been her friend, helping her with the children she let out, he was a Cold One. A Cullen. He was with someone else. A female but not Alice. A very strong female and her rage was the same as that of Klaus, if not worse. And they were close. "They're here," she whispered as she dropped her pancake. She couldn't be seen eating food that wasn't meant for her, she couldn't be seen sitting on a chair. She couldn't be seen. She didn't want to be taken away. "Please don't let them take me," she said as she looked at Kol with tears in her eyes. "They can't take me because they didn't want me anymore."

"Hey, it's alright," he soothed her, gently putting his hand on her leg and squeezed it. "It's going to be alright, I'm not going to let you go, remember?" He looked up to Klaus' study. "Nik! Elijah! Freya! They're coming!"

"What? In the morning? The sun's out!" Freya said as she quickly put her hair in a messy bun. "Then again… this is New Orleans… stranger things have happened… It's still early in the day… Eh," she shrugged. "I need coffee." She then noticed the table filled with food. "Oh, food! Fingerfood! Yum!"

"Freya."

"Give me a minute, I'm hungover," she muttered as she sat down next to Bella and bit down on a piece of pineapple. "Don't worry, Bella, you're safe here. There's two of them and there's four of us… well, five, including you," she smiled before she reached for one of the cups of tea.

"Jasper, h-he can influence emotions, make you more agreeable and less angry. You all need to stay close so I can put you in my shield so he can't do that."

"Don't worry about us," Freya smiled at her before reassuringly squeezing her leg. "So, how close are they?"

"Close…"

Just as Elijah and Klaus came downstairs to join Kol, Freya and Bella, two hooded figures stood in the entrance of the courtyard. "Quite the flair for the dramatic," Klaus huffed and motioned for the two Cold Ones to come in. Marcel and his vampires were going to make sure they wouldn't have an easy escape. "Goodmorning, have a seat," he said as he pointed at the empty chairs. "I hope you don't mind, we were having breakfast. I would offer you some, but then again… you'd only decline."

"Don't be scared," Freya said to Bella and handed her the pancake that she'd dropped earlier. "We made a battle plan yesterday. If they were truly coming to take you away, they would have showed up in numbers, not with just the two of them, no matter their abilities. Let Klaus do the talking and don't allow them inside your mind, okay?"

Bella nodded, but she was unsure if she was capable of eating now. She was holding her pancake and looked at Kol, who was sitting on the other side of her now. Sitting between him and Freya, Bella felt safe. Freya was kind. Just like Kol.

"Go on, eat it. I'd like to see the scowl on their faces because we're letting you eat what you should be eating," he grinned as he popped a piece of apple in his mouth.

Elijah got to his feet and opened the large parasols to block the rising sun to make sitting in the courtyard be more bearable to them all. He had no desire to have a conversation being distracted by a lightshow. "Welcome," he said as the Cold Ones removed their hoods. "I'm Elijah Mikaelson, this is my brother Klaus, my brother Kol and my sister Freya. And, of course, one of your former charges, Bella."

"The name's Jasper Whitlock, sir. This is my friend Myriam Jenkins and Bella was not our charge," he said as he sat down, surprised that Bella hadn't thrown her shield up and surprised by the fact that these traditionals genuinely seemed to care about her. Apart from the hybrid, he was still shaken by Bella's actions only a couple of days earlier. "She was my protectee, I kept an eye on her as much as I could and intervened in some cases."

"Is that so, Bella?" Klaus asked her as she was nibbling on her pancake like some sort of rabbit. He had to admit, she was brave. Very brave. "Is Mr. Whitlock telling the truth?"

 **A/N: Every Wednesday I'm posting a new chapter! The story is completely written, so don't be afraid it'll be abandoned or not updated! xx Buggy**


	7. Chapter 7

"I-I don't know," she said hesitating a little, a sense of guilt washing over her because she didn't know. She should know this, but she didn't. "Jasper helped me to return children who didn't want to be at our home at times. And I would get into trouble and get punished."

"Try again, Mr. Whitlock, as it sounds to me that you were part of the problem," Elijah replied as he took a sip from his tea.

While Jasper was grateful that they allowed Bella to speak her mind, in this case, it wasn't a good thing as indeed, her observations would work against them. They already had a difficult entrance due to Myriam's uncontrolled slaughter of the vampires the other night. "Myriam and I are a part of a tiny organisation… just the four of us, who travel the world to kill Cold Ones who are exploiting children. I was put with the Cullens, undercover, to keep an eye on Bella and of course, I had to go along with some procedures otherwise they'd find me out," Jasper calmly replied. "I am well aware of the fact that the Cullens abandoned Bella into your care, Mr. Mikaelson. Or perhaps due to your reputation they believed you'd kill her, but it's time for Bella to come home with us."

"Even if I'd believe you about the first part of your story, why do you think we'd hand Bella back to you? She's not an object, she's a person. She's a broken person, but human nonetheless. Corrupted by your kind, starved, experimented on, brainwashed." Elijah kept using his calm voice. Bella could feel Klaus's rage seeping through the cracks, he was more than ready to kill Jasper and she wasn't sure if she'd try to stop him from doing so. Jasper felt strange. Off, but other than that, she couldn't quite get inside his mind.

"It's because she was trained by the Cullens, and experimented on, that she'd be better off with us. We know how to handle her and her malfunctions."

Myriam growled and hit Jasper's arm. "Quirks. He meant quirks," she said quickly. This wasn't right. Seeing Bella sitting at the table with the traditional vampires, eating like a human… the food that Myriam had gotten while she was still a human, sucked. Bella hadn't been raised on this food and it would be a bitch to wean her off of it, too, unless they'd turn her, but Bella was too unstable to be turned. And Bella seemed to be comfortable with these traditionals as well. It wasn't right. Bella's mind was too fragile to have to go through another major shift in way of life again. This wasn't going to end well. "How are you arranging and managing her care?"

"We're slowly introducing her to new foods to eat as she became sick after having too much water and _oats_ ," Freya replied. "I'm giving her a magical cleanse on a semi-regular basis to undo some of the things that have been done to her. She's getting juice with a detox in it for anything that I'm missing. My brother Kol spends as much time with her as he possibly can, showing her that it's alright to speak your mind and talk about your feelings. That she's allowed to have an original thought. And so far, she's surprised us all by how well she's doing."

"You do realize that there was a reason for the low energy diet that Bella had been put on?" Jasper questioned as he looked at the various foods on the table, seeing nothing but fruit juices, sugar, carbohydrates. "And at the intervals she was fed at? Don't get me wrong, it's amazing to see her doing much better since I last saw her two weeks ago, but it's not right."

"No, starving her is not right," Freya said venomously. "She's a human, like me, and we need our nourishment. She fought us hard on the food thing when we first started it, but food is something to be enjoyed, she sees that now."

These traditionals were playing with fire. They believed they knew everything about Bella, but they were wrong. The file that they had in their possession and been placed there, by Jasper, for them to find. But it were only the cliffnotes. "She needs to be with her people. With us. Trust that we are as liberal as you, as passionate as you, something completely different from the Cullens themselves. We have a farm in Texas with nothing around us for miles where she'll be safe and won't be able to harm anyone. Keeping her here in the city is a big mistake. She's a Cold One. Human, sure, but she's a Cold One."

"Are you sure?" Kol said playfully as he looked at Bella, who had rosy cheeks. "She looks pretty warm to me!"

"Bella, you know you can't stay here," Jasper told her, his voice kind, warm. "I appreciate how these traditionals are allowing you to use your own thoughts and opinions, you must know better now."

"I was abandoned," Bella replied, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "Alone. They are taking care of me. No punishments, but _kindness_. I did scare them the other day when I hurt twenty people… but I'm not a bad girl, you see. Kol said that they used to do far worse and kill people and he's not a bad person, either. I'm still a good girl."

Jasper sighed and nodded before sharing a look with Myriam, causing her to scowl and turn away. "We won't forcibly take you away from your friends, Bella. But Myriam and I will remain in New Orleans to keep an eye on you so should there be something going on, we can come and help you."

"This is ridiculous," Myriam muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest. She hadn't liked Jasper's plan, but she had decided to go along with it. Mostly because they hadn't been sure how Bella would be. The next visit, Myriam might tell Bella who she was. But Jasper had been nothing but an annoying asshole for the last few days, despite their amazing sex. Whatever it was, it was likely the Cullens fault for ruining him.

Elijah pursed his lips as he observed the two Cold Ones and their sudden animosity between them. "Ms. Jenkins, you are not agreeing with your companion?"

Myriam sucked in a breath, she was still angry that they couldn't get to her in time before she had her meltdown and then Jasper had stopped her from grabbing Bella in the first place. She could still do that. She was fast, she was strong and she could take these sorry excuses for vampires. "No," she started as she carefully chose her words as not to sound too much like a gigantic bitch. "Bella's not one of you, nor will she ever be. She's a Cold One. Her destiny lies with me. I'll be able to make sure she won't hurt anyone else due to my special skill set. She is dangerous and needs to be managed. By me. As Jasper said, we're quite liberal in our beliefs and we won't treat her as poorly as the Cullens did, but you need to release her to me for the safety of your coven, and of this city. I don't want to sit around and wait for a catastrophe to happen. That's not who I am and that's not what I'm supposed to do. I have Cold Ones to kill."

 _As poorly_. Kol picked up on that and he could tell that his brother did as well. There was no way in hell that he was going to allow these two Cold Ones to take Bella away from them. From him. There was no telling what they'd do to her.

Klaus let out a dark chuckle. "Now see, I can applaud that sentiment. I have a few Cold Ones on my shit list, too. They attempted to take my daughter!"

"They're in Alaska, I'll tell you exactly where if you relinquish your custody of my- Bella," Myriam replied kindly. "I'll even join you for the fun of it. I've seen your work in Forks. You beat me right to it, unfortunately."

"No, love," Klaus shook his head. "Despite my healthy dose of fear for this girl, she's not going anywhere. You lot abandoned her, and my siblings have taken a liking to her. She's responding well to my siblings."

"I did not abandon my sister!" Myriam blurted angrily. "We've been trying to get her out for years! I even turned so that I could be even stronger and faster to get her out! And you ruined it by allowing your daughter to take her instead! I was supposed to break her out when you were tearing the fucking place down!" She slammed her hand on the table, sending breakfast flying through the air. "She's mine! Not yours."

Bella noticed it, and no doubt Jasper noticed it too, but there was a flutter of something in Klaus' rage as the Cold One ran her mouth. She was going to have to ask Kol later what that feeling meant, because she didn't understand it at all. Jasper wasn't liking that feeling Klaus had, at all, and now Bella was all confused. Had she belonged to someone else all this time?

"You're her sister?" Freya blinked as she looked at the Cold One and then Bella. Granted, there was _some_ similarity in the Cold One's face, but she couldn't see it.

"Twin, actually," Myriam didn't sit back down as she let out a breath. "Fraternal. Whatever. Mom took me after the birth giver gave birth to me, I was the first one out, and she told everyone that I had died. Mom knew that birth giver and sperm donor were doing icky things with the Cullens and werewolves and that it was wrong. She was supposed to go back for Bella, but she was too late, already under the protection of the shifter wolves and moved into the facility. That's why they sent Jasper in."

Klaus couldn't tell if she was lying, but the story was so insane that it was a possibility that it was the truth. And there was no doubt that her transition from being human to a Cold One added some years to her life, from what he had heard, those transitions were brutal and painful. "Love, why won't you sit back down in case you break something other than our table?" He suggested calmly. "I now understand your need to have Bella with you, family is important, after all, but as you can see, she's already become a part of ours in the short time she's been here."

"Mom had definitive proof that my DNA, our DNA, had been messed with in the petri dish, but also our embryos had been manipulated while we grew in the birth giver's birthing chamber. When I was five years old, I could lift a car with my pinkie and with the strength, I had anger issues. So dad decided to train me to fight, and how to kill Cold Ones. I took my first Cold One down when I was ten years old. But I wasn't fast enough. I wasn't strong enough. I asked to be turned when I celebrated my 18th birthday, giving up on all the human things. Hot showers. Nice food. Coffee. Fuck, coffee… I was a newborn, but never acted out, I always kept my head. And I started to go after more Cold Ones. Preparing me for the fight with the Cullens. Which _you_ ruined for me."

"I ruined it for you?" Klaus mused, challenging the Cold One. "Love, you seem to know where they are, why come to New Orleans first?"

"Because I wanted to give Bella the satisfaction of killing them, too," she said angrily. "And to ask for your help to go after the Volturi to end this for once and for all. Just because we are stronger than humans and have the ability to live longer, doesn't mean we, as a species, should treat them like the Cullens have."

"I hate to break it to you, darling, but Bella's not a killer," Kol finally spoke as he looked at the Cold One. She did look like Bella, and while she may have had a better life than her sister, Myriam looked lost. Incomplete. "If you were going to take her to the Cullens now, she'd be on their side, not yours."

"No, I-I wouldn't."

"Yes, darling, you would," Kol said as he smiled at her. "I told you, baby steps, and their training of you will take a long time to get rid of."

"I-I wouldn't! I swear!"

He smirked then before looking at Jasper. "Give her an order, or an instruction, whatever you used to call them."

Jasper realized what Kol was trying to prove to both Myriam and Bella, and nodded. "Bella, I want you to clean up the mess that Myriam made because of you."

"No," Bella said defiantly, crossing her arms over her chest. See? She could refuse.

"Bella, you failed in keeping this place spotless, clean it up, now, and your punishment won't be as bad as I want it to be. You're a bad girl for allowing this to happen."

She tried to fight it. This was a set up, and she knew it, but she couldn't fight it and soon enough found herself on the floor, picking up the broken pieces of the plates as quickly as she could. It was her mess. Myriam had been angry because of her. She truly was a bad girl.

"Bella, stop," Jasper said as he felt Myriam's heart break. He may have neglected to inform Myriam just how bad Bella's life had been, merely for the sake of her own sanity. "That's enough, Bella. You can stop now."

She stopped and remained on her knees, her hands resting on top of her knees and sighed. She was a bad girl and she wasn't even cleaning up properly.

"What the fuck." Myriam breathed out as she looked at Jasper. "What the actual fuck!"

"There is no doubt that Bella has your temper, Myriam. The Cullens wanted her to be quiet and cooperative. They trained her like this. Like a drone. Mindless and not allowing her to think. It made Bella safe to be around," Jasper explained, a guilty look on his face. "However, I do have to admit that these traditional vampires have been handling her correctly in regards to trying to make her life better. I still recommend taking her out of the city, though."

Well that Cold One turned around quickly. Klaus didn't like it. "Nonsense," he said as he made the call right there and then. "Miss Jenkins, _Myriam,_ you are welcome to stay here at the compound to get to know your sister, to keep an eye on her, but you will not take her with you."

"Niklaus, since when do we take in strays?" Elijah asked exasperatedly.

"Myriam is Bella's sister. Or so she claims. There is no doubt in my mind that this woman will allow us to run tests on her to make sure of it. If it's the truth, we need to allow her to get to know Bella. You know as well as I do, family is important."

"I can't believe this," Elijah huffed, shaking his head.

"I'm with Niklaus. I mean, if she is Bella's sister and she's telling the truth about her origins, then there's no doubt that she'll have been messed with, too. I could have Keelin compare their DNA strands on abnormalities and go from there," Freya said hopeful before looking at Myriam with a smile. "Believe me, there's nothing better to get to know your family after having been on your own all this time."

"I wasn't on my own. I had my parents and Jasper," Myriam said as she still had her eye on the kneeling Bella, contemplating her thoughts. "Very well, I'll stay. What the hell. Why not."

"And my apologies to your companion, but Bella doesn't seem to respond well to him. He can't stay," Klaus said, a playful smile on his lips as he looked at Jasper. "You understand."

Jasper hadn't anticipated this outcome. However, for now it was the best decision. Myriam could keep an eye on Bella while he'd stick around in the city. He nodded politely.

"And please, refrain from feeding off of the humans in this city, your kind kills them and it'll draw attention."

At that, Bella's head snapped up. "I don't die when he feeds on me, sir."

"Nobody's going to feed on you, darling," Kol said as he helped her to her feet and handed her a pancake that had been saved from hitting the floor when Myriam smashed the table. "We're only going to feed you," he helped her to sit down to eat.

She slightly snickered. "That was funny."

"Yeah, it was," he grinned.

"You're not going to hurt any of these girls," Jasper said as a counter demand. "And you're going to keep your hands off of _my_ Myriam."

Both Kol and Elijah sucked in a breath and Bella wasn't sure why. It was a normal request, wasn't it? Myriam belonged to Jasper, like Bella had belonged to the Cullens… and to Jasper. And she had belonged to Myriam in the first place? But wasn't Jasper Alice's? Didn't he belong to Alice? Did Alice know that Myriam belonged to him? Jasper felt angry and anxious. Worried, maybe, and Klaus's anger had dissolved and it had changed to something else, something she couldn't place. Yet another emotion she'd have to talk to Kol about.

"I'm an honorable man, Mr. Whitlock," Klaus spoke calmly. "Miss Jenkins will be my guest for as long as she wishes to stay and to connect with her sister, the one she's worked so hard for to free from the Cullens. To assume that I'm anything less than honorable because you're picking up on my emotions is frankly an intrusion on my privacy. Another reason why I do not want you in my house."

Myriam stared at Jasper with an open mouth. "You fucker! Who gave you the right to claim me as your own? That never fucking happened and if you believe that I'm going to fuck the person who's responsible for delaying my reunion with my sister, you're fucking mistaken!"

"Okay, time for the humans to leave," Freya said with a singsong voice and looped her arm around Bella. "Come on, we're going to leave this cesspit of testosterone."

"W-what?"

"Oh Bella," she sighed as she ruffled the girl's hair. "Here you are, twenty years old and you know nothing about the pleasures in life…"

"And you're not going to inform her either!" Kol called after his sister. That would be a complete disaster with Bella not understanding feelings and emotions as well as she should. On top of that, she still didn't feel free enough to do things on her own. No, teaching Bella about the birds and the bees was going to have to wait. For a very long time.

The moment Freya and Bella were safe inside Bella's room, with no doubt Freya have cast a spell so that Bella wouldn't hear anything, all three brothers rose to their feet and started to walk towards Jasper. There was _no way_ that they'd allow him to leave and tell his family all about Bella. On top of that, the way he was treating his _friend_ was deplorable. "On the subject of killing Cold Ones, Miss Jenkins, what do you wish us to do with this one?" Klaus asked. Perhaps it was dangerous to allow Myriam to enrage, but if there was one thing they all had issues with was self control. And Myriam would fit right in with the lot of them.

"You're not going to do anything," Myriam replied as she rubbed her hands in glee. "He's been different ever since he returned from the Cullens, I don't trust him anymore than you do. He's mine to deal with."


	8. Chapter 8

Freya had wanted her to take a nap and when Bella woke up, she was alone. The sun was high in the sky and she had liked the feeling of it on her skin that morning. She opened the door of her space and wondered if it was alright if she'd left it to walk around a little, to be in the sun for a little while.

She found it strange, however, to see people walking around in plastic suits with brooms and buckets of water. Kol hadn't told her that that would happen. Curious, Bella decided to be bold and have a look, but she didn't have to venture out far to realize what was going on as she stepped into a puddle. Looking down at her bare feet, she noticed that it was Cold One venom and it was likely that these people who worked for Klaus were wearing plastic so they wouldn't get hurt. But it was still acidic; it could still hurt them.

"Please, stop," Bella called out. "It'll bite through your plastic!"

The people weren't even listening to her, it was as if they were under some sort of spell… mind control… was this compulsion? She ran into the courtyard and pushed the people to the sides, away from the carnage. She saw some blonde locks somewhere, and she didn't know what to think about this. It was obvious it was Jasper, and while he had been her friend, he had also been one of them. He had abandoned her.

She started to pick up pieces of his body while she kept the workers at bay, and put them into the wheelbarrow. For Jasper to be truly dead, his remains needed to be burned, and Cold One venom was flammable. Jasper could still be salvaged if people wanted to, his brain wasn't scrambled.

"Bella, what are you doing?" Kol asked panicked as he jumped down from the first floor, right next to another puddle of venom. "Don't do that, darling, we have people who do that for us. You'll get hurt."

Bella pointed at the workers she was keeping cornered. "This stuff eats through everything, their protection won't hold," she said as she continued to scoop up Jasper. It looked as if he was mauled by a wolf, or worse. "You're going to need a hose for the things high up and the venom here on the ground," she noted.

"Bella, stop it."

She walked over to Kol and showed him her venom covered hands and feet, there were no burn marks on her, nor were there holes. "I'm not hurt. It itches, a little, but I've seen worse than this. I don't want your people to get hurt."

"You're cleaning up the remains of Jasper."

"I know," she said lightly before resuming her task. The sun felt great on her skin. She had always believed that the sun was the biggest invention made by someone. She'd rarely seen the sun, only on occasion when she was allowed to go outside, but she had always liked it. And she was outside now, but still inside. Safe. "Have you determined if Myriam was speaking the truth about being my sister?"

"Not yet, but that's what we're working on right now… she's very cooperative, please stop cleaning him up, it's not your job."

"Kol, I've already hurt twenty people this week, I don't want your people to get damage that you can't repair because of me," she replied stubbornly as she slung Jasper's arm into the wheelbarrow. It had already begun to heal, she saw the fractures, but they were closing. "He's already healing, if you truly wish him dead, his remains need to be burned."

"His death isn't on you, Bella."

"Sure it is," she replied as a matter of factly. "If it hadn't been for me, he'd never have come here."

"Don't be stupid," Myriam said as she jumped down and started to help Bella with cleaning up Jasper's parts. "I killed him, Bella, that's what I do. I kill Cold Ones. Bad Cold Ones. Like Jasper and the Cullens. Jasper had it coming for several reasons."

"But-"

"No, I'm not having that. Not everything that happens is your fault, and if it makes you feel any better, it did me well to kill him. The lying fucker who liked to mess with other people's heads. Including mine. While he knew to stay out of it. Fucker. If I could kill him again, I would."

"You're using that word a lot."

"What? Fuck? Fucker? Yeah, it's normal language, you should try to use it sometimes."

"Is it a bad word?"

"Hell no," Myriam laughed as she scooped up some venom and dumped it in the wheelbarrow. "People use the word fuck or fucker to emphasize how shitty, bad, something or someone is. Jasper's a fucker. The Cullens are even bigger fuckers. You could call them fucking fucks."

Bella looked at Kol for confirmation and he simply shrugged. "What your sister has is called a potty-mouth. She uses foul language to get a message across that Jasper was bad and that the Cullens are even worse. She likely picked it up during her excessive training."

"Fuck yeah," Myriam grinned as she tossed a foot into the wheelbarrow. "I'm quite loud, too. I speak my mind and don't hold anything back, except for maybe you, really. Because girl, you look like you shouldn't even be doing this. You might break your back or something when you lift up parts of his body."

Bella huffed as she threw a part of Jasper's skull into the wheelbarrow. "I'm stronger than I look. I'm also keeping the workers from doing this because I don't want them to get hurt."

"Would you like to see a neat trick?" Myriam asked Bella as she shook her hands to get rid of the venom and the moment Bella looked at her, Myriam created the illusion of Bella, turning Myriam into her. "This is what you look like at this moment," she said, a bit smile on her face. "I've been killing Cold Ones, looking like you."

Kol blinked at what he saw. Two Bella's. Identical, albeit Myriam's version of Bella looked slightly healthier than the original. "Holy-"

"Down boy," Myriam grinned. "I can already see you imagining the possibilities but you're really not my type," she said teasingly before looking back at Bella, who now looked furious. "What?"

"I got punished for what you did. They believed I could teleport out of my space and go places to kill vampires," Bella replied. "And I didn't understand, because I'd never leave them or kill and it was you!" Bella's fists were balled as her arms hung from her body, she was ready to give her a big push into one of the pillars. Yes. Revenge.

Myriam quickly switched back to herself and swallowed hard. She had never thought about the repercussions to kill Cold Ones looking like her twin sister. She had always believed that Bella would be with her in spirit when she'd do that. "I-I'm sorry… I didn't know… Jasper never told me, either."

"Don't feel guilty," Bella said, releasing her fists and relaxing a bit as she identified the feeling that Myriam had upfront in her mind. She wasn't invading her, per sé, but she had put light telepathic tabs on all the vampires in the compound because of Klaus ever since she hurt twenty people. In case she needed to protect herself. Or Kol. "The punishments were my treatments or not being allowed to leave my room. It's wasn't bad, it was part of my day."

"Bella, that's not normal," Myriam said baffled. "Even compared to how I live, that's not normal. That's twisted. That's fucking twisted and wrong. Mom and Dad would never do that to me - I call them mom and dad. They're called Peter and Charlotte. I suppose I have to call them to tell them that I killed dad's brother…"

"You were sleeping with your uncle?" Kol blinked.

"We weren't blood related or anything," Myriam shrugged. "Besides, we're dead. Even if we were, we wouldn't get mutant babies. He was a good fuck, though. Shame about his personality change." She picked up another part of Jasper's skull and tossed it in the wheelbarrow. Then another piece caught her eye. It was lodged in one of the columns and it took her a jump to get to it. She had believed it had been a finger, but no. It was bigger than a finger and it was fucking fully erect still too. What the hell! Making a face, she quickly headed to the wheelbarrow and tucked it underneath something so Bella didn't have to see Jasper's penis. Jasper's once oh so beloved penis. Asshole.

"Did I hear you say Peter and Charlotte?" Klaus asked as he looked over the balcony, observing the two 'sisters' and his brother, who didn't dare to move amongst the Cold One venom. "Peter and Charlotte Whitlock? I knew I recognized Jasper's name."

"Peter and Charlotte Jenkins," Myriam said as she looked up, a smile on her face. "They changed their last name for safety. If Carlisle would have known I was still alive, they would have come for me. Do you know them?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Klaus said surprised. "For a while, I was on the run from my tyrant of a father and disappeared, I needed places to hide and I met Peter and Charlotte in a bar, they offered their place for me to stay in for some time."

"Yep, sounds like them," Myriam nodded. "The amount of stray dogs and cats when I was little… it was insane!"

"I'm liking you more and more, Miss Jenkins, you'd better be who you say you are."

Myriam huffed as she tossed Klaus her phone. "Call them. Verify my story with them, it's easier than to wait for the results of your doctor's tests on me."

Klaus smiled then, jumping down like Myriam and Kol had, and landing right next to Myriam and Bella as he thumbed through Myriam's phone to get the right number and put it on speaker. "Since our Bella doesn't have vampire hearing and all… I don't want her to feel left out as we talk to _daddy dearest_."

" _Myriam Jenkins, why have you absconded from your mission to kill the Cullens? They're not dead yet, you know? Where the fuck are you? Are you in trouble? Do you require backup?"_

"Well, that explains where she got her gutter mouth from," Klaus remarked playfully. "You kiss your wife with that mouth?"

" _Who the fuck- Klaus? What are you doing with my daughter's phone?!"_

"She tossed it to me, actually, after confiding in us who her parents are," Klaus smirked as Myriam rolled her eyes. "She was telling me a fantastical story about how she and the girl I left my brother in charge of are sisters. Now, mind you, the information we have on our girl is very slim and didn't say anything about a sister."

" _Bella? You have Bella? How? Why? What? The Fuck!"_

"Your friends abandoned her into my custody, what else was I supposed to do, kill the girl? You taught me the value of helping others and helping others to help others. I was feeling charitable, forgive me."

" _Where's my daughter? Are you fucking her?"_

"Woah, woah, woah!" Myriam said defensively. "Dad! I only got here, you know! It's not as if I fool around with everyone!"

" _Austin… Ian… Iain… oh, what was the other one? Joel! And Stefan, was it? Or was it Damon?"_

"Dad, stop," Myriam groaned as she heard her mother whisper 'both'. "Mom, don't… you know that I had to scratch my itches while Jasper was away…"

" _I still can't believe you're seeing him."_

"Well, I'm not. Bella and I are currently picking up his pieces from the floor of the Mikaelsons' beautiful courtyard because Bella didn't want their staff to get hurt," Myriam shot at her parents before dunking an elbow into the wheelbarrow.

" _Oh good, if you find his dick, send it over so we can use it as a candle,"_ Charlotte's voice sounded. " _He got in too deep, didn't he? That stupid fuck got in too deep and manipulated by those fucking Cullens."_

"Yeah… I guess…" Myriam sighed. "He was different when we met up in Phoenix, and I swear, he was influencing me the entire time we were in New Orleans. The rage, the passiveness…"

" _Well good on you, Myriam._ "

"Thanks mom."

" _So, does that mean you're going to sleep with Klaus Mikaelson now?"_ Peter asked before he was quiet for a little while. " _Well, I suppose it's an upgrade. Can't exactly kill him… or scare him into submission… Can't you pick some normal guy next time?"_

"We're not going to sleep together, for fuck's sake!" Myriam said aggravated. "I'm not _that easy_! I'm here for Bella and not for anything else, you hear me?!"

"Okay, enough with the fucking here," Kol said, objecting. "Sensitive ears and all that!"

"Fuck, you two are the worst! This is why I rarely call in!" Myriam said frustrated before using her vampire speed to clean every little piece of Jasper off the floor and walls and then tossed a lighter into the wheelbarrow, causing Jasper to burn.

"I didn't call to hear about Myriam's conquests, Peter," Klaus reminded him, a cheeky smile on his face as he watched the Cold One in question. It was a shame that that breed of vampires had lost everything that made humans beautiful; the flushing of skin when they were embarrassed. "Is what she said about being Bella's sister true?"

" _Yeah man,"_ Peter replied, laughing his ass off for no doubt embarrassing his daughter in front of her new friends. " _We wanted to go back for Bella, but then it was too late. We never were able to get close until Myriam decided she wanted to be turned and became even stronger than the strong man of the Cullens."_

"See, Bella?" Kol smiled at her. "You're not alone. You have a sister! Family! Isn't that great?"

"But I have you," she said confused. "How would I be alone when I have you?"

"Because family makes you stronger and will never abandon you," Kol said, avoiding thinking about the times that he'd been abandoned or stabbed in the back by his siblings. "Myriam spent her entire life trying to find you, that requires determination and a whole lot of love."

"Love?"

Kol scratched himself behind his ear. "Uhh… kindness. Myriam has a lot of kindness to give to you because you missed out on so much of it."

" _Was that all the information you needed, Klaus? I could send you all the research we have on the two girls that we managed to scrape together if you want a better picture. Hell, Charlotte and I could make a trip down to good old New Orleans and have some fun while we're at it!"_

"Please don't come," Myriam said quickly as she stared into the flames. "Send the stuff over, sure, but seriously, don't come."

" _You sure, darlin'? It's possible that the information will have things you don't even know about yourself yet."_

"That's fine. I think it's time now. I found her."

"I'll send one of my trusted vampires to come and pick it up. Please, Peter, don't kill him," Klaus said, shaking his head. "And I do look forward to meeting up with you sometime in the future for an old fashioned pub crawl."

" _You'd better take real good care of my girl, Klaus Mikaelson, or I will find a way to kill you."_

"Dad! Stop it! I'm a grown woman!" Myriam snatched her phone out of Klaus' hands, disconnected the call and tossed her phone in the fire. "There. No more harassment."

"That's a bit harsh, isn't it?" Klaus laughed.

"Nah, it was time for a new phone anyway. You know, in case I get tracked or something," Myriam shrugged. "Anyway, your courtyard has been thoroughly cleaned. What's next?"

"Do you still sparkle when you change your appearance, if only slightly?" Klaus was curious. "Because darling, you are a walking, talking, disco ball."

Myriam huffed as she changed her hair color and put a mole on her cheek at will. "No sparkle."

"Good," he smiled at her. "Despite how you were created, you must admit, this is one ability that is nice to have."

"Eh," Myriam shrugged as she looked at Bella with a guilty look on her face. "Apparently not so much. I can actually get people hurt."

"Let's not dwell on past things," he said as he offered his arm to her. "Let me show you my city, and then I'll take you to a splendid place to have a snack."

"I don't eat normal food, Klaus, different breed of vampire."

"Oh, but I wasn't talking about human food, love, I was talking about an all you can eat buffet right here in the city, filled with miscreants that won't be missed if they end up dead."

"Oh, now you're talking," Myriam grinned as she gladly took his arm. "Lead the way, good sir."

"Oh, they'll definitely be shagging by the end of the night," Kol muttered as he looked at Bella. "So, do you have ideas of what you want to do today? Rest? You've been through a lot today, new experiences, new information…" He hoped she wouldn't mind spending a few hours by herself. Seeing Nik interact with Myriam, the fight with Jasper and everything else had made him horny and hungry. He needed a release for both.

"I'm never going to be curious again," Bella said as she pointed at the wheelbarrow. "I'll stay in my confinement. I have learned my lesson."

"It's good to be curious, darling," he smiled at her. "Why won't you take a nice bath and rest a little?"

She nodded slowly, liking the idea. "The bath is where I put the plug in and fill it with water, yes?"

"Warm water. Not cold," he reminded her.

She nodded again. "I can do that!"

"Good girl," he grinned as he watched her walk back to her room. After listening for the bath to be running, he was satisfied that she was actually doing just that. He informed Freya that he was heading out for a few hours and headed straight for Débauche, one of the best brothels that New Orleans had.

Bella took a quick dip in her bath to wash off the Cold One venom and got back into her clothes. She wasn't sure how to process all the new information she had learned today. What she had experienced. Perhaps it was better to store it away and not to think about it too hard. She had to accept that her sister was a Cold One, but a good one. And if she weren't, Kol would kill her. She didn't have to be scared, because she could protect herself when needed. She could protect Kol when needed. And Myriam had parents. Like the children had when Bella was still at home. Those children who were crying for their mom and dad. Myriam was strong and everything that Bella wasn't. Myriam was free. Myriam could take care of herself, feed herself. Bella- wasn't sure if she could. Myriam was the good girl. Bella was defective and the bad girl.

There was something about Jasper's words that morning that had scared her. That she wasn't safe in the city and that she had a strict regime for another reason. That perhaps he knew more about her than she did. Than Klaus and Kol did. Not knowing what it was was frightening. What if it was a really bad thing and she'd do a really bad thing? And how? When? Or did he say those things to make everyone even more afraid of her?


	9. Chapter 9

Chef had brought her some food, but Bella hadn't been hungry. She had had three whole pancakes that day and they had been delicious but the more she thought about that morning, the more truth she saw in it. She was a Cold One, and Cold Ones didn't need human food, they couldn't eat it. She shouldn't eat so much.

The food was still resting on her table, though, as a reminder.

It was quiet in the building. Freya was out, Kol was out, Klaus was out with Bella's sister and Elijah was reading. Bella enjoyed the silence very much as she was sitting underneath the table with her legs crossed. It was welcomed, after everything that had happened that day. It was getting late in the day, the sounds outside were changing from passing cars to more people on foot, laughing, thinking loudly, but that was alright, Bella didn't have to listen. Her bubble was nice.

Until the point where her door flew open and slammed shut again. She shifted so she was sitting on her knees and peeked out from underneath the table. Kol would knock before he'd enter. So would Freya. "Fucker, fuck!" It was Myriam. Bella's sister. What was she doing in her confinement? Bella couldn't get a read on her, but she could tell that she was slightly drunk on blood. "What a fucking asshole! Taking me out to see the city? How nice of him! Exploring the city was wonderful, saw many beautiful and old things and I heard many stories. Then he took me to an all you can eat buffet!" Myriam barked out a laugh. "Jesus fuck, there were so many of them that I thoroughly enjoyed myself while we fed. And then it dawned on me… you know, the fucker says 'love' a lot. A LOT. Oh, and 'sweetheart', jeez, that's fucking annoying! He held the doors open for me. Made sure everything was to my liking. Fucker! See, that's why I hated him calling Dad, because Dad would make a joke that I'm fucking cheap and it would get ideas in someone's fucking head! Just because I fucking killed my fuckbuddy doesn't mean I'm free and open for anyone else! Jesus fuck!" She stopped pacing then, the smell of cold human food entering her nostrils and spotting the plate. "And I didn't give up my humanity for you so you can skip your dinner. Sit down and fucking eat your food!" She pulled Bella from underneath the table and set her down on a chair before taking a seat in front of her, where Kol usually sat. "I'm here for you, Bella, I'm not here to get fucked with by traditionals, you got that? No messing with my mind or no nudge in the right direction because I swear, I will kill you."

Bella did as she was told and started to eat the food, she wasn't sure what Myriam had been going on about, other than it sounded like Klaus was being kind to her. "It's called _kindness_ , ma'am," she softly said as she continued to eat. "This family is very kind, except for when there's anger and rage involved."

"No, Bella, Klaus was trying to get into my pants."

"I doubt it'd fit, ma'am," Bella replied as she kept her eyes on her plate and continued to eat.

Myriam didn't know whether to laugh or dismiss it. Because it did sound funny and it was the truth, Klaus Mikaelson would never fit into her pants, but Bella was so innocent. "You have no idea what I was ranting about, do you?"

"You didn't like Klaus' kindness, ma'am," Bella said, half shrugging. "It is something to get used to, but give it a few days and you will appreciate it that these vampires like kindness above else. They don't believe in punishments or water and oats, and they don't do experiments. They do magic and Freya made it look so pretty. And these vampires' touch is warm, not cold. They're soft, like I am!"

Myriam sighed as she leaned on the table and rested her head in her hand. "You've been here a while… have you been inside their heads? Do you trust them? What do you think of them?"

"When Edward abandoned me, Klaus took me with him, ma'am. I was sure I was going to get punished or killed, and I welcomed it. I felt as if nothing mattered anymore, because they had finally found a way to get me away from everyone. To be safe, and not to have someone as defective as me. I don't like Klaus much, he has a lot of fear and rage inside of him. Kol found me in the dungeons while Klaus was away, and Kol started to show me kindness. And I tried so hard to refuse. I believed that Edward was going to come for me and take me back home. It was only because Kol forced me to feel something, to make me hurt twenty people in the street, that I know that I have been wrong in rejecting kindness. That they are trying to make me adjust to their version of living, likely in the hopes that I can serve them as I tried serving the Cullens. Like the children we had at home, we showed them a better way of life and made them stronger."

Myriam sighed then. "For you, _this_ is a better way of life. Yes, you were raised as a Cold One, but not entirely because you're still human. You have needs that the Cullens couldn't give you and birthgiver and sperm donor only used you for appearances sake. You don't have to be quiet. You don't have to serve. I can see that now. You're free. Like I am."

"No ma'am," Bella shook her head. "I might hurt more people. I'm a monster, I'm a bad girl. You're the good girl. You're strong, and you're fast, and you've made a good impression on Klaus. You kill bad Cold Ones. I only hurt good people or people who don't deserve it. And I'm aware that I'm different."

"It's good to be different, if we were all the same, life would be so incredibly boring," Myriam shrugged. "And to be fair, your innocence is so adorable. You're not a bad girl, Bella. You're a good girl who's had bad things happen to her. You're a good girl, wrongly instructed by bad people. The Mikaelsons are trying to teach you their way of life because this is exactly how life should be lived. With kindness. With good food. The first 18 years of my life had been fantastic, Peter and Charlotte couldn't cook for shit, but they employed a cook so that I had my normal, human food. I spend my days out in the sun on the farm. Riding horses or training to become stronger and faster. Because Peter and Charlotte told me about the bad Cold Ones when I was old enough to hear where I came from. And ever since then, there's this fire inside of me that just needs to kill bad Cold Ones, you know. I won't rest until they're all dead," she smiled then. "And maybe, one day, you'll feel strong and confident enough to come and help me."

"But killing is bad."

"Killing bad Cold Ones isn't bad. It's good," Myriam pointed out. "It makes the world a little safer for humans to live in. On top of that, I don't feed off of good humans, either. I feed on the bad humans, because they deserve it."

Bella had finished her plate and carefully put it aside. "What's a sperm donor, ma'am?"

~o.O.o~

Bella hadn't slept because she didn't need sleep. Like her sister because Cold Ones didn't sleep. Kol hadn't come home, and Bella was a little bit worried, but she knew that he could take care of himself. He had told her that quite often. Instead, Bella listened to Myriam as she spoke about how and where she grew up, describing a lot of things in detail so that Bella knew that things were, or at least understand. Bella was good at listening, and she believed that Myriam simply wanted to talk to someone.

When it was morning, and the staff of the Mikaelsons started to prepare for breakfast, Bella couldn't believe it had only been a day since she met Myriam. Myriam was an open book, there was no need to go into her mind to understand her, because she spoke openly and used the word 'fuck' a lot. Bella had the feeling that she knew Myriam quite well already - granted, there were things that Bella didn't understand but simply let Myriam talk. And talk. It was what Myriam needed.

Bella wasn't sure how to feel about having a sister. In her experience, families were bad, like the Cullens. But the Mikaelsons were a family and despite all of their anger issues, they were together and they were kind. It was confusing and Bella didn't know how to be a sister. What if she'd be bad at it?

"So, tell me about Kol," Myriam smiled at her. "He's been looking after you, hasn't he? Been teaching you things?"

Bella nodded. "And Freya and her doctor Keelin are figuring out how I'm built and what's in my bloodstream. They have to determine if they need to get it out or if it can stay."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Birth giver's herbs, I guess ma'am. All the syringes with things in them to make me better. Freya said that she wouldn't be surprised if Doctor Carlisle rewired me on the inside, in my chest, but Keelin took pictures of me, you know those where you can see on the inside? And she said I was complete. I still had everything, although I don't know what could be missing."

Myriam sucked in a breath. "Well, sometimes Cold Ones who are in the business of 'helping' special children, like to remove a kidney to sell it for money. Or half a lung. Or you know, get the part out where you can grow a baby."

"I don't want to be a birth giver!"

She laughed then. "No, you don't have to be one. You can become a _mom_ if you want to. But you'll never have to worry about becoming a birth giver. That might have eventually happened if you weren't caught by Klaus' daughter Hope. But you know what? That's a talk we can have some other time. What else did Kol do for you?"

"He showed me that warm water is nice, ma'am. That it's much better to be underneath the shower or in the bath than being hosed down. And that I had to use a towel. Oh, and the toilet, but luckily I knew how it worked having been on one a few times. And that human food is indeed better than water and oats. And most of all, he taught me that it's good to talk about what you feel and that crying could feel good. He thinks that because of my instructions of not being allowed to feel anything that I'm getting those explosions in my head that hurt people."

"And, is that working?"

"My head still feels light, ma'am. Usually by now it starts to feel a bit heavy. And then heavier, and heavier…"

"And then it takes just the right push for you to explode." The whole 'ma'am' thing was annoying Myriam immensely. She was Myriam, for fuck's sake. Her sister. She was not a ma'am. "Well, guess what?"

"What, ma'am?"

"According to Jasper, and to my parents, I can block mental abilities. Like… Jasper's manipulation of feelings. Or compulsion by traditional vampires… or… Edward's mind reading. Haven't you noticed? You can't get into my mind? That's because I'm keeping you out. You can push people away with your shield, or protect them, right? Well, I just have to stand in front of whatever is happening and it goes away. Hurts no one." She saw a big smile appear on Bella's face, a smile of relief. "I haven't tested it yet with your meltdown, though, so you'd better keep on the good work so I won't have to."

"You can really do that, ma'am? You can make sure that I'm safe to be around? For everyone?" Bella sounded like an excited child, her voice filled with hope and anticipation.

"Theoretically I should. Yes."

"Did you tell Klaus, ma'am? That would certainly ease his mind about me!"

Myriam smirked then. "I have not told him and let's not tell him, okay? He's a polite asshole who tried to get into my pants. We're not going to tell him anything. I'm not sure what's in the bundle of information that Dad has, but if it's not in there, we're not going to tell."

"But isn't that bad? Not telling something important to someone, ma'am?"

"Not in our case, Bella. You and I are special. Perhaps even more special than Klaus Mikaelson himself, and we can't give away our secrets like that. You know why?"

Bella shook her head.

"Because in the case of emergency and we need to get the hell out of here, I'd rather have them surprised by what we can do than for them to have anticipated our moves," she said as she helped Bella to her feet. "Because even nice people can be bad, especially for us Cold Ones. Now, come, let's get you something to eat, they've finished setting things up. You need to tell me what you like to do for fun so we don't get bored," she said as she looped her arm through Bella's and took her to the courtyard. "You do have hobbies, right?"

"What do you mean, ma'am?"

Myriam sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "What do you like to do to kill time? Like… cooking or reading or… I don't know…"

"I remain in my confinement until I'm needed, ma'am."

"That was there, what do you do here?"

"The same, ma'am. Although I do like it when Kol's spending time with me."

Myriam scowled as they sat down at the table. "Seriously, what's up with the sir and ma'am shit? I'm Myriam. I'm your sister. I'm getting very very icky vibes off of you calling me ma'am, makes me think that the Cullens did more than you say they did. Did they ever like tie you up? Pushed their cold hard junk inside of you? Whipped you?"

"Oh, kinky," Kol said grinning as he sauntered into the courtyard and for Myriam he was reeking clearly of blood, booze and sex after his long time at Débauche. "I'd love to, darling, but I am spent! Maybe tomorrow!"

Bella watched Kol go into his own room and blinked. "I thought vampires couldn't get sick?"

"Oh, they can… well, _they_ can. I can't. I think he drank through an entire bar or two…" It was fortunate that she didn't need to breathe, Kol's stench almost made him vomit. "He smells disgusting."

Bella started to fill a plate with some food and got to her feet. "I'll be right back, ma'- Myriam."

"Where are you going?"

"He's sick, he needs to eat something to make him feel better, like he told me to do," she said innocently before going over to his room and knocked on the door. "Kol?"

"Go away, Bella," Kol's voice sounded from the other side of the door. "I'm not feeling too great."

He sure didn't sound like himself. She took a deep breath and opened the door, slightly. Kol had helped her when she was feeling sick, it was _kind_ to do it for him, too. The room was dark, the curtains were drawn and there were no lights on, and no place for the sun to come in. She hadn't been into his room before, but it reminded her of her confinement at the Cullens, just warmer. She opened the door slightly further. "I know, but I brought you something to eat. You'll feel better when you eat something. Those are your own words."

Kol let out a groan. "Oh sure, now you're paying attention," he muttered. "Darling, I'm not sick. I merely… overindulged and I'm not sure if I'm quite done yet, but they kicked me out after having had every girl in that brothel, there was no one who could satisfy me."

"I'll just put the plate on your table so you can take some food when you feel like it," Bella said as she quietly got into his room and managed to find the lightswitch so she could find a table. Kol wasn't wearing any clothes and he was on his bed, looking at Bella as if he was shocked. Not even blinking, she slipped into his mind for a moment as she made her way over to the table to put the plate down.

 _What the fuck! Oh bloody hell, this is going to ruin her, why didn't anyone stop her? She smells so good though… oh fuck, yep, there it comes._ Kol grabbed a pillow to cover up his modesty and kept his eyes on Bella, who didn't seem to be bothered, at all. "Thanks, darling, you can go now," he said with a strained voice. _Why haven't I seen this before? No, I did. But she's broken and innocent. Not pure, but interesting. No, this wasn't love, this was lust. Because she was new and exciting. And I want to fuck her. Fuck. Her. Fuck. Bella. She'd feel so good…_

"I'm sorry," Bella said softly as she left his room. Why were his words contradicting his feelings? She felt a little hurt that he didn't like the kindness that she showed him. She sat back down at the table and grabbed herself a pancake.

Bella's silence told Myriam enough. She had read his mind. "What did you learn?"

"He was likely feeling feverish, he wasn't wearing any clothes. He used your bad words in reference to me," Bella replied sadly. "He didn't like my kindness."

"My bad words?" Myriam said surprised, thinking about her vocabulary and what Bella might have heard. "You mean fuck?"

"You use that when you don't like something or someone," Bella nodded slowly. "Kol doesn't like me..." she then picked up another stray thought. "And he wants to eat me."

Myriam started to laugh, and couldn't actually stop laughing as Bella nibbled on her pancake. This was hilarious as fuck and she wasn't sure if she should be the one to give Bella the talk about the birds and the bees. She wasn't even sure if the girl was ready for that, seeing as she had a hard time identifying some emotions still, and wasn't expressing enough on her own. "Alright, Bella," Myriam was still laughing as Bella's words played through her head. "Get out of his head, give him some privacy."

Apart from the presence of one Klaus Mikaelson, this place was a hoot. Myriam was definitely going to stick around!


	10. Chapter 10

Over breakfast, everyone had laughed on Bella's expense, and yes, it was kinda shitty of them, but to be honest, it was kinda funny and it was a lesson for Bella to stay out of someone's head when they were too incapacitated to put up their mental roadblocks. Myriam went out into New Orleans to a) avoid Klaus and b) to get some board games to play with Bella since her sister pretty much said that she didn't do anything for _fun_. It meant that she was sitting still, waiting for the next thing to happen.

That wasn't living. Bella needed to have fun. Maybe, just maybe, Myriam could teach her how to bake cookies and eat them. Or lasagna, the cook's recipe from when she was growing up had been delicious and Bella could share with the Mikaelsons for all Myriam cared. She just wanted to give Bella something to do, to keep her engaged. Like a fucking toddler needing to learn all the things.

She wasn't going to mess with Kol and Bella's friendship or whatever they had going between them. While the exchange had been hilarious, this was something that Kol needed to talk about with her sister, because right now she was feeling as if Kol didn't like her very much. Which was partially Myriam's potty mouth's fault, but that was beside the point. While Myriam would love nothing more than to see her sister happy and taken care of, she was nowhere near that point and Kol was going to have to keep a lid on his feelings for her until she was ready. She hoped that he was smart enough to realize that.

The best part of seeing her sister up close was that she could get the measurements right. Bella was shorter, likely due to the fact that she didn't get enough sunlight and the best food while growing up, and of course, thinner. It would likely take _months_ for her to look like a healthy human being. Myriam loved shopping for clothes, and it was more fun to shop for someone else, while looking at them to see if it fit and if it was something for them.

Even though Myriam wanted to buy all the tight stuff, she refrained from doing so and opted for a nice summer dress instead. And underwear. She hadn't seen any underwear in any cupboard in Bella's room, likely because she was wearing sweatpants all the time and second hand underwear was gross. A nice cozy big shirt to sleep in and some fluffy bunny slippers. Of course, now that Myriam was going to stay for a while, she needed some essentials of her own, clothes.

When she returned to the compound, she saw Kol slip into Bella's room - it was about time, the bastard hadn't left his room since he returned the day before! Myriam decided to stay out for a while longer, although she secretly wanted to listen in on the conversation. It was always good when men squirmed.

Kol found Bella sitting in her favourite corner, knees hugged to her chest, and only acknowledging him briefly before staring blankly ahead of her again. "Hey, Bella, how are you doing today?" He asked as he sat down next to her. "Is everything going well between you and your sister?" When she nodded, he continued. "Can we talk about what happened yesterday?"

She looked at him then. "We don't have to. You weren't feeling well and didn't appreciate my kindness."

"I had far too much to drink, alcohol, even more than we can usually tolerate and I was absolutely shitfaced. I had a lot of blood inside of me as well and I was a little frustrated," he said slowly and in a soft tone of voice. "It's embarrassing that you saw me that way. Stark naked about to wank and-"

"What's shitfaced? What's wank?"

"Right, well, shitfaced… have you ever experienced being in a situation where you felt really good and your head was all floating and thinking crazy things? Perhaps you felt urges you'd never felt before at the same time? That's what alcohol does to you. And drugs. And too much blood, in my case. When you're shitfaced, all your walls come down. Like… all of them. No self control, nothing." When Bella nodded, he continued. "And wank… well… humans and vampires alike enjoy a lot of things similarly. Wanking is the action of stroking my penis until it feels so good that white stuff, semen, comes out of it. It makes you feel relaxed. It's basically playing with yourself until you feel good and relaxed."

She couldn't see the appeal to both of them. Losing control over your own actions was scary and wanking sounded gross. She'd never touch herself down there, for what purpose? It was where her pee came out! But she nodded, thanking him for his explanation anyway. More information to remember.

"And you, you went inside my head, you devious little thing," he said as he playfully poked her arm. "You know I don't like you to poke inside my head."

"You were sick. I was merely trying to make sure you were truly alright," she replied softly. "But instead I found something that I didn't like."

She found something she didn't _like_. Progress. He hated it, though, that she didn't like something about _him_. "Really? What was that?"

"You don't like me," she stared right at him. "You used Myriam's bad word in combination with my name. But it's okay, you don't have to like me. I have Myriam now, we can go if you'd like me to."

Myriam's bad word? Fuck? Yeah he often used that word inside his head, they were a part of his thoughts, but his thoughts were unfiltered and- oh. Shit. "Right," he sighed as he put an arm around her and pulled her closer. "Didn't _they_ ever mention that hearing someone's thoughts is hearing them unfiltered? That what that someone thinks is private and usually raw? Think about it. Your inner monologue is different what comes out of your mouth. It's likely not a huge difference for you, but for most people it is. I understand you wanted to make sure I was alright, Bella, but you shouldn't have read my thoughts while I was incapacitated like that. Just because you can, doesn't mean it gives you a free pass."

"Are you going to punish me?"

"Never," he smiled at her. "Why would I punish you for things you still need to learn? You know it's wrong now, and you likely won't do it again."

"But you don't like me."

"I do, Bella, I do," he replied as he held her even closer for a moment. "I don't want you to leave because you think I do. I'm not sure in what kind of context of the word fuck was used when I was shitfaced, but I think you should ask your sister about it, since she's the one who's using the word a lot."

"But it were your thoughts, it wouldn't be kind of me to discuss them with Myriam."

"It's from my understanding that Myriam knows a lot about the different meanings of the word _fuck_ , I'm sure she'd love to tell you all about it."

"But to discuss your private thoughts with someone you've only met yesterday?"

Kol shrugged, pretty sure knowing what his thoughts were. "Your sister is more alike to us than you or she might realize at this point, being raised the way that she is. I don't mind. It's actually a topic that _should_ be openly discussed rather than to feel embarrassed about."

"She told me to ask you."

"And I'm telling you to ask her," he grinned. "Now, did you manage to get any sleep or did your sister keep you awake all night?"

"Cold Ones never sleep, I'm used to that."

"Ah yes, but you're a human, darling, you require regular hours of sleep, how about you take a nap? I'll have to go and discuss something with my brother anyway and if I see your sister, I shall tell her that you're resting."

"But you truly meant it? You do like me?"

"Yes, Bella, I do. Very much so," he took the blanket and wrapped it around her. "Go have a nap, darling, I'll be back to fetch you for dinner."

She smiled then as she shifted and took her place on the floor. One of these days, Kol was going to have to convince her somehow that she'd really prefer the soft bed that was standing in her room. It wasn't just an object, it was something she could use and it was more comfortable than the floor.

Kol stayed until she started to breathe steadily and evenly and then quietly left her room, bumping into Myriam, who had a big smile on her face. "Don't even think about waking her up."

"Oh, I'm not," she grinned. "I just couldn't help but listen in on your conversation with her and how hard you needed to work to deflect talking about your most deepest desire."

"And what's that?"

"You want to fuck my sister!" Myriam started to laugh. "You honestly want to fuck a broken bird, couldn't you have waited to develop feelings for her until she was… I don't know, functioning like a normal person?"

Kol growled as he pushed Myriam away from Bella's room so that they wouldn't wake her up. "I don't want to fuck her, Myriam. I want to covet her and treat her like the brilliant person she will turn out to be. Don't you think that I'm not appalled with the fact that I'm attracted to her? Not because she's awful or ugly, but because she needs to find herself, she needs to get comfortable in her own skin and amongst us. She needs to forget her training and that will take time."

Myriam hummed then, a random thought popping up. "You know, being around Cold Ones makes humans be completely infatuated by them, what if she has that effect on you?"

"Freya already checked her over for that and she doesn't have that gene, I wish it was that easy, but it's not." Kol decided to change the subject then, as he was tired talking about his feelings for Bella. "How was your night with Niklaus? Did you two have _fun_?"

Myriam narrowed her eyes on Kol. "No, and that fucker is staying away from me. I'm here for my sister, not for anything else."

Kol was surprised to hear that. "You two did not have sex? I have lost a bet with Freya then… What happened? Performance anxiety?"

"You need to stop or I will kill you," Myriam told him as she slowly started to lose her cool. "I've already spoken to Bella about my evening with your brother, I'm not going to discuss it with you."

"With Bella?" Kol laughed. "Oh, that poor girl, she must have been so confused!"

"It's no laughing matter!" Myriam said as she pushed Kol away from her. "She's twenty years old! She's a fucking human who, until she came here, had never tasted good human food before! She's never been through puberty, or it's been fucking repressed. She's so fucking innocent that I don't even want you around her because you're thinking about fucking her while you smell like the whores you've been visiting previously!" So much for keeping her mouth shut about her sister's friendship with Kol Mikaelson.

"Hey now," Kol defended himself. "I have been taking care of her, making sure she felt safe and secure, ate, and got some routine going with the help of my sister. I have been nothing but respectful towards her! So yeah, forgive me if I went teetotal last night because your sister requires a lot of patience and control and I'm not known to possess those qualities! I had to let loose!"

"You're saying she's a handful? A burden?" Myriam lowered her voice, definitely making sure it sounded like a threat as she approached him. Oh, she so wanted to kill him. Traditionals would be so easy to kill…

"I did not say that!"

"It sure sounded like it, try again, see if you can make it sound like she's not a burden to you," Myriam said, still advancing on Kol, who was walking backwards, towards Bella's room. Even if he'd go inside, wake Bella up and ask her to put her shield around him, it wouldn't matter. Myriam could get through. It would be good practise, a test of theories. "How _dare you_ to claim to have good intentions when you're looking elsewhere to get off? She deserves better than that! Better than you!" Myriam grabbed him and threw him across the courtyard, straight into the partition that hid an ugly spot in the courtyard, a loud crash could be heard as Kol's body broke the partition and he dropped to the ground.

In one fluid motion, she was on top of him, not giving him time to recover. "She deserves someone who's dedicated to her, and her alone, not allowing his needs to seek his kicks elsewhere simply because at the current time he can't get them from _her_!" She wanted to punch him, but he was quick enough to dodge her fist and she cracked the pavement. "You're not even introducing her to the most human things to do! Board games! Cooking! Ride a ferris wheel! Learn how to read, devour books! Watch movies! Let her be a teenage girl, or a child, even! She's never had that! You know what I did this morning? I went out and bought her clothes. PJ's. Fluffy bunny slippers and a handful of board games she might enjoy! Oh, and crayons! Because she's never had that! And what do you do? You come in, talk, and leave her to stare into nothingness, not engaging her mind at all! You fucking claim to want her with everything that she is and that makes you no better than the fucking Cullens." The next punch she threw, hit, shattering a cheekbone. "You're fucking lucky I'm not taking her away from here because we have nowhere else to go, but you're not going anywhere near her again!"

"Alright, that's enough," Elijah's calm voice sounded as he pried Myriam off of his younger brother, whose face looked dented, Myriam's knuckles having left quite the imprint. Knowing he couldn't contain the furious Cold One himself, he pushed her towards Niklaus, who grabbed her tightly and held her close as Myriam fought him.

"Let me go, you fucker! You're even worse than he is!" She said as she tried to push herself off of the ground, but all Klaus did was to lift her feet off of the ground. Despite being taller than Bella, she still was a tiny ball of fire and Klaus was taller.

"Calm down, love," Klaus said softly as he was impressed by Myriam's strength. She hadn't been lying that she was strong and he'd never encountered a Cold One this strong - yet. "You've done enough breaking for today."

"Don't talk to me," Myriam spat as she tried to wrestle herself loose. Klaus held her good, she couldn't move her arms at all and her legs couldn't even kick him as he held her at an angle, keeping everything away from her. "If it hadn't been for your stupid daughter, Bella wouldn't have been here."

"No, she would have been dead," Klaus replied calmly. "Go ahead, blame everyone and the world, but you need to calm down before you seriously injure someone." Myriam knocked her head back, colliding with Klaus', causing the hybrid to stumble, but not to let go of her, seriously pissing him off now. Such a shame that Cold Ones couldn't be put into time out with a snap of the neck. He felt his hybrid façade bleed out and carefully scraped Myriam's neck, careful not to get her venom onto him, because that would be a bitch.

Myriam stilled then. It was something Peter would do during her year of being a newborn and she was getting out of hand. She could be decapitated and that would bring her nowhere.

"Now, calm down, and once you're calm, we're going to have a civil discussion without breaking things, do you understand, sweetheart?" Klaus asked nicely. "I am going to hold you until you calm down seeing as we have no space in this house that could contain you in particular."

"Kol," Elijah spoke quietly as he didn't take his eyes of their audience. "Would you be so kind to go to the kitchens to get yourself some blood to heal yourself a bit faster?"

"A Cold One smashed my face in, Elijah, a little sympathy couldn't hurt," Kol shot at him as he managed to get to his feet, Elijah moving slightly to block Kol's sight on Bella's room.

"You and Myriam garnered quite the audience during your little scuffle."

" _Little scuffle_? Seriously, 'Lijah?" Kol huffed as he touched his cheek and was surprised to find it dented. "Oh, bloody hell! Who thought it was a fucking good idea to have a Cold One underneath our roof? And unstable at that! My handsome face!"

"Kol," Klaus said, warning him, as he could feel Myriam's muscles tense up again. "Get yourself fed. Where's Freya?"

"She's with Keelin," Elijah replied as he watched his youngest brother walk off towards the kitchen before going over to Bella, who was still looking at what had happened in the courtyard. "Everyone is alright, Bella, no one got hurt."

"Myriam can still get hurt," Bella said as she looked at Klaus holding her sister like she'd seen happen many times before. Her neck was too exposed. She needed to shield her so that Klaus couldn't hurt her.

"I can assure you, the last thing Niklaus wants is to hurt your sister," Elijah smiled at her. "He's merely keeping Myriam from hurting herself or others."

"But Klaus doesn't like me. He's fearful of me, why would he allow me to have my sister after she attacked his brother?"

Elijah sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Niklaus, for one time, would you please allow Bella access to your mind so she can see for herself how well your intentions are for her, and her sister?"

"Oh, I know exactly what his intentions are!" Myriam growled.

"Hush, sweetheart," Klaus whispered in her ear, and Myriam stilled again. "I'm not a fan of that idea, Elijah."

He looked back at the pair. "I do not either, but you need to allow Bella to read your mind to be reassured what you're doing is the best option for now. Considering what she came from, imagine what you two appear like to her at the moment. And perhaps Myriam would gain some perspective herself when the day is over," he finished, his tone mildly scolding as his eyes settled on the Cold One at the end.

"Do I get any reassurance that she won't mess around in my head, instead?" Klaus wondered out loud.

Elijah huffed in frustration. "Niklaus for God's sake…," he retorted. Turning to Bella, he knelt near the girl in attempt to appear less imposing. "Would you only read his thoughts and nothing else? Could you promise that?"

"I can't manipulate thoughts and feelings like Jasper could, I can read only."

"I think he's more afraid of what you were able to do to the humans outside if you were actually in his mind, dear."

Bella blinked at him. "I don't enter people's brains to do that, it's just happens and I don't have control over it. But I can't do that by myself. I never hurt people when I read their thoughts. I don't want to hurt people."

Elijah stared at her for a long minute to gauge her understanding. He truly felt that sinister ability was emotion based and it hadn't affected the family at the time. Nodding, he looked over his shoulder at his brother. "I trust that she can do it. We need to begin trusting her if we want her to trust us," he murmured in addition.

"Very well," Klaus sighed as he opened his mind, hoping that whatever Bella would see in it wouldn't be confusing for her because otherwise he'd be in trouble.

Bella didn't particularly feel like she wanted to read Klaus' mind, especially not after she had read Kol's and he had told her that it was his privacy that she'd been invading and that his thoughts were his. Unfiltered. Raw. Unreliable. "I promise I'll keep them to myself," Bella said as she took a few steps closer to Klaus, his mind was harder to get into than she had anticipated. "But do keep talking, if you wish."

 _I don't like this. For Bella's reassurance opening my mind for her? As if I would ever harm a woman! That thought is preposterous!_

Myriam squirmed in his arms and smirked at her sister. "I told you he only wanted to get in my pants. Now you have confirmation of that."

"What does preposterous mean?" Bella questioned. "I don't understand."

Elijah eyed his brother. "It means absurd, or ridiculous. Forgive my brother. He favors his expensive words almost as much as I."

"Don't be ridiculous," Klaus huffed at his brother, glaring in confusion at the girl in his arms for her outrageous claim.

 _Expensive words, I say education. Long years of living. One's bout to pick up words he favors, difficult or not. Myriam's strong. When is she going to stop struggling so much? Peter should have given me other options. Other than to 'build a bunker' and this one. Peter doesn't know everything, can't know everything. Jasper manipulated his ability to know everything, danced around it. Hid things. And Peter was worried about the safety of his girl and her sister. Well, yeah, so am I. They're safe here, for now. Peter assured me that Myriam has her own special way to make sure Bella's safe to be around with._

That thought surprised Bella, Myriam said it would be their secret, and Peter told Klaus about it? So much for it being a secret! She liked to identify the feelings and have the mind tell her what reason it was for them to feel that way. It made her understand it easier, but sometimes it only made things worse for her.

 _Myriam was right about bringing more humanity in this home, Freya said the same and I was going to send Kol out to buy things that could possibly interest Bella. It's a good thing Myriam was already a step ahead, painful, too. Myriam needs our help as much as Bella does, her life couldn't have been easy, either. Lonely, perhaps, knowing she had a sister and not - perhaps Freya could try to bond with Myriam, they both have the same experience concerning siblings._

 _But why on Earth would Myriam think I was trying to woo her and bring her to my bed? We've only just met. I was just showing her the city. Our beautiful New Orleans. The lights. The buildings. The places she could feed safely without the deaths being too much of a nuisance. The Art. That's what set her off. And that conversation I overheard that she had with Bella made no sense. Myriam is attractive, yes, but we've only just met! I was trying to get to know her and now she's acting like this. Oh, perhaps in time, she'll see that I was only being friendly and making sure that she wouldn't turn our home into a ruin…_

 _Did she really have to pick a fight with Kol, though? They both mean well and they were both fighting for Bella. Well, perhaps Kol did deserve it. Myriam was right in that sense, if Kol is truly interested in Bella as he claims, then he shouldn't seek his entertainment elsewhere. Those days belong in the past, not in this time. Granted, we're vampires and we don't have to adhere to humanity's standards… well… Kol has to. I don't- but I do. Nowadays._

 _Oh, she is beautiful, isn't she? Despite her cold, marble skin, she's a beautiful raging sun that would make me want to see how amazing it would be if she'd exploded around me. Glorious, I'll bet. I need to paint this beautiful metaphor. Oh, if only I wasn't still holding her._

Bella blinked and gasped as she watched the _metaphor_ happen. Klaus' thoughts were quite vivid, images, feelings, thoughts, all at the same time and she tried to listen to the words, but this image was spectacular, incredibly detailed and the feelings- overwhelming. Was she supposed to see this? What was this? What needed to happen for Bella to feel this for herself? Would she even be able to?

Elijah and Myriam watched Bella's reactions and he looked over at his brother in wonder. What exactly did she read in his head to garnish such a response. All he knew was that Klaus was trying to hide a blush within Myriam's hair.


	11. Chapter 11

This chapter is for SparklingFae and Meeko. Thanks for believing in me ladies!

* * *

They had watched Myriam go into Bella's room with all the things she had bought for her after calming down. She couldn't get away from Klaus fast enough, it seemed. Kol was still nursing the dent in his face, this time with alcohol, in Klaus' study. Elijah and Klaus went up to the study as well and Klaus sighed as he sat down, relaxing. "Next time we have an out of control Cold One…"

"You'll get to wrangle her again," Elijah smirked as he poured his brother a drink. "You're the only one strong enough to do so."

Klaus scowled as he took his drink from his brother and downed it in one go. Bella had been in his mind and he had survived the ordeal. He hadn't even felt her inside of his mind, which was extraordinary and dangerous. It was unnerving, as well. It was fortunate that he, and most of his siblings, were capable of closing their minds completely, but who knew what errand thought she could pick up on when they were not at their best? Was that also one of the reasons why Myriam picked a fight with Kol, because Bella saw something in his mind while he was incapacitated? "Kol, your partying days are over, for now."

"Don't you think I know that now?" Kol scowled. "Especially now that I look like a crash test dummy after it got hit by a wrecking ball! You really know how to pick your women, well done," he added sarcastically and poured himself another drink. "And for your information, Bella knows not to poke around in our heads, she hasn't been doing it ever since I started with her. She was just worried about me, that's all."

"We know," Elijah and Klaus replied, both half shrugging. "But still, had Myriam not been around, I would have said the same thing," Klaus continued. "I don't care about your face. It will heal."

"I sincerely doubt that Bella likes you for your looks, Kol," Elijah mused. "And on that note… I'm wondering what young Bella experienced in Niklaus' mind that made her all flustered."

"What!" Kol blinked as he stared at his brothers. "Niklaus allowed Bella inside his mind and she was flustered? Nik!"

"I can't be certain what she picked up, it could have been anything. I was thinking many things at the time, you know very well how thoughts work," Klaus said as he took a sip from his drink after refilling it. "As I said, I didn't know when she was in or out of my mind, but whatever she experienced inside my mind, I'm glad it was enough for her to see that I wasn't going to hurt her sister."

"She might have gotten more than expected," Elijah replied, swirling his bourbon around in his glass. "I suppose Kol and Myriam could be required to answer some uncomfortable questions."

"What do you mean? I wasn't there, Elijah! I was stuffing my face with blood!"

"Relax, whatever it was, she found it a pleasant experience, with her cheeks pinking up beautifully. Seeing as we're still men at heart, it doesn't take a genius to know that it was likely about sex."

"What! Why! I think of having sex with her and she basically thinks I dislike her and she sees it in Nik's head and she gets all flustered? That's so not fair!" Kol objected.

Klaus sighed. "The answer is simple, brother," he eventually spoke. "We have different ways of thinking, I wasn't incapacitated when Bella entered my mind and perhaps my thoughts were a bit clearer for her to understand. And for your information, I wasn't thinking about having sex with _her_. She's all yours."

Kol blinked, still in disbelief. "Okay. So she saw you thinking about shagging her sister. Again, tell me the difference because I'm failing to find it here."

"Think of you as being as subtle as a bull in a china shop when drunk, imagine what your thoughts would be," Elijah thought out loud, comparing both of his brothers. "Niklaus is like a fine wine, smooth and subtle and he was in control over himself, he merely allowed Bella access. She didn't like his choice of expensive words."

"Either way, she's not quite at the mental stage to accept sex. I accept that, but why would she - Nik…" Kol was so disappointed and frustrated with himself as he sat on the couch.

"I was thinking about artwork, different things, beautiful sunsets, orgasms, everything. She didn't get a full perhaps a jungled imagery of orgasms."

Kol looked at him and shook his head. "She felt your mental orgasm."

Klaus sighed and hung his head in shame. "She felt my fantasy of an orgasm."

"With her sister," Elijah pointed out, not so helpfully.

"And so what of it?" Klaus defended himself. "Myriam is a beautiful young woman, highly intelligent and her vulgar language and strength is a turn-on. I'm being courteous as to taking my time to get to know her properly before trying to make any advances."

"I don't dispute that but it would rather be a difficult coupling. As much as I would be pleased to see you happy here, I don't know if it is possible," he shared his opinion. "I do like the girl, do not mistake my words-"

"Don't you think I know that, brother? Perhaps we can ask Freya if she'd know something… a fix for this. A supernatural condom for all I care. But until then, my thoughts are just that. We all think about sex all the time, and she's currently my tormentor. Don't tell me you don't have your own in someone, brother, because that would be a lie."

Elijah hesitated and looked out of the study, struggling to find any words of reassurance for his brother as he had tried that route on his behalf already.

"And you were right, by trusting Bella inside my mind, we established some more trust. I think that's what's more important than her having felt my fantasy or whatever she saw in my head."

"Except if she saw you go on a murderous rampage," Kol muttered.

"I think she'd be used to that, brother," Elijah chided him a little. "I don't think you'll have to worry she'll avoid us for having done all of that. I can't help but to be curious as to what information Marcellus will return with after having picked it up from Peter Whitlock."

"We need to keep in mind that the information might not be trustworthy seeing as a bulk of the information was provided by Jasper who knew about Peter's ability and managed to work around it," Klaus replied with a sigh. "Peter's quite unhappy about it all, because the Cullens might know about Myriam, as well. If they know that she survived, they might actually send the Volturi Guard over."

"Just how much have you been in contact with the empath's creations?" Elijah enquired, glancing over to his brother before turning back to his drink.

"Peter raised Myriam. Peter helped me during the time I was hiding from Mikael, on the run. I owe it to him to make sure that his adopted daughter and her sister are safe. He contacted me after our talk on Myriam's phone through one of my contacts, hating that she destroyed her phone."

"So you are telling him what she's doing, knowing she cut off contact? That's not like you brother," Elijah remarked.

"I'm not telling him about her," Klaus angrily countered. "All he needs to know is that she's alive and safe. I'm calling him for information. How to calm her down, for example. What she's like, if she's as loud as she is presenting herself to be. How her first year of turning has been for her."

"Best subduing methods. Okay," Elijah nodded, swallowing his bourbon as he gaze remained towards the courtyard.

"We might be safe from her onslaught when she gets truly angry, but our sister, and her sister, aren't," Klaus continued.

"She seems more reactive towards you than anyone else. I wonder why that is."

"I don't know. She sure doesn't like me and I'm not sure why," Klaus shrugged.

Kol had been quiet, continued to rub his indented cheek. "Don't be a sissy. She likes you but she doesn't want to admit to it. After all, if you can call the empath a relationship, she wouldn't attempt a true friendship or romance immediately without ulterior motives. She's like you, only with a gorgeous set of knockers and a lot better looking."

"Thank you for your input, Kol, always so insightful," Elijah sighed. "Unfortunately, you're not wrong. There's no doubt in my mind that Myriam might have some trust issues when it comes to us men."

"Some!" Kol huffed and pointed at his face. "You call this some!"

"Well, at least she made sure you won't be able to visit Bella for a day or so, just like she wanted," Elijah countered playfully. "Mission accomplished, I'd say."

"Very funny."

"So, what's next? How are we to proceed?" Elijah asked his brother. "As we were?"

"For now," Klaus nodded. "Marcellus instructed his vampires to patrol New Orleans more intensely and keep an eye out for Cold Ones. I want to read Peter's information myself before thinking of other ways to protect and help them."

"So I have nice breasts?" a voice spoke behind Klaus and Kol, while Elijah covered his discomfort with a fresh glass of liquor. Myriam looked down at her chest, cupping them with her hands when the two turned to face her. "I do think they are rather nice indeed."

Kol scowled as Klaus just smiled at her. "Yes, love, your assets are rather well formed. One can't help but look at them, especially with the way that you're dressed."

"Like what? A whore?"

"Can't you just take a compliment?" Kol sighed tiredly. "Just say thank you or something."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "How about you go fuck yourself. Considering if you are interested in my sister you can't go fucking her or anyone else. So you are left with Palmela Handerson."

Kol set down his glass and got to his feet, still not in the mood to deal with Myriam the psycho. It was true that she'd fit right in with them, but he was not in the mood. "Perhaps I should show Bella my face and tell her I got beaten up by you," he muttered as he walked out of the study.

"Go ahead," she said over her shoulder. "I already admitted to beating the shit out of you, and that I enjoyed and would do it again. If you go in there, be ready for a lot of coloring. She decided she likes coloring books."

"She didn't have to know you beat me up!" Kol whined as he went down the stairs. "You're so not fair!"

"Well she doesn't quite need to know what an orgasm feels like but she does, doesn't she? I'm not going to discuss what that little experience exactly means with her quite yet," Myriam retorted, turning her gaze on Klaus. "On the subject of my sister. You people don't own a television."

"No, we don't. We entertain ourselves with our books and art," Klaus mused as he refilled his glass. "Hope is quite the little artist," he said proudly.

Rolling her eyes, Myriam let out a sigh. "I think she might benefit some with watching television. It's a normal human activity."

"Both Kol and Freya have a television in their rooms, Kol with the additional game consoles and whatnot," Klaus replied.

"Do you really think it appropriate she goes in his room at this point?" Myriam scowled.

"Very well, we shall get her a television. What do you require, Myriam?"

She was taken aback by the question, glancing at Elijah. "Why would you ask me that? I don't need anything. I don't eat food or sleep…"

"If you're going to stay with us, then wouldn't you require your own room, perhaps?" Elijah asked her curiously.

"If I need time away from this testosterone party, I'll go out into the city for awhile," she shrugged. "There are some decent clubs in town."

"Everyone needs their own sanctuary, love," Klaus said quietly. "Allow me to give you one by preparing a room to your liking. What do you need?"

She continued to grow uneasy and narrowed her eyes at him before pushing herself off the doorframe she'd been leaning on. "I'm fine. I didn't ask for anything. I don't want anything. Stop asking me," she blurted out before turning to leave.

Klaus quickly got up and blocked her exit. "Now, we're trying to teach Bella about the act of _kindness_. On how by being kind, we can help each other out. There are no ulterior motives when it comes to _kindness_. I merely want to give you a place of your own so that you can have some privacy and don't bunk with your sister as she requires hers."

"You want to do something for me? Find a way to stop me from sparkling like the goddamn tooth fairy," she hissed and sped around him.

"What makes you think that we're not already working on that, love?" Klaus questioned, as he watched where she was going. "We have, after all, a witch on our hands."

"And I bet she has no answers for you," Myriam answered knowingly.

"You've only been here for two days, she needs some time."

She turned and stared back at him emotionlessly. "Don't you think that Peter knew witches as well?"

"You need to have some faith. My sister isn't an ordinary witch, and neither is my daughter, she's quite the special young witch who managed to snare your sister. Have some faith and trust that we're looking into it."

"I am familiar," she replied sarcastically. "We wouldn't be here otherwise and if Peter wasn't so insistent we stay, trust me, we would have been gone awhile ago and you wouldn't have even known."

"I'm thinking… a nice jacuzzi, maybe a spa type of room for you. With a nice calming water feature, endless of hours of staring into those. Or books? DVD's?"

Myriam raised an eyebrow. "Somehow I have a feeling you have some extra imagery going on behind those particular thoughts. Shall I get my sister to take another walk through your mind or might I grab you a box of tissues and lotion now?"

"Do you wish for me to call your father and to ask him to order you to accept some kindness?"

She smirked and crossed her arms. "Do try. I dare you."

Klaus scowled as he mimicked her stance. He already knew what would happen, basically. Peter had told him about Myriam's stubbornness and her ability to really mess with people. "Very well, I suppose you're well in your rights to reject _my_ attempt of being kind, but do come to me if you're passed all of that and you need something?"

"You mean like an itch to scratch? I think your imagination handles that well enough," she shrugged nonchalantly, thankful at least for being a Cold One at that point.

"Yes, I had a random thought about you in a …. Very compromising and intimate position," Klaus said frustratingly. "How can I not? You are a beautiful woman! Have you not learned that all men think of sex, 99 percent of the time? I apologize that your sister had picked up on that random thought while she was making sure that I wouldn't hurt you. It's not a crime to fantasize, it's not as if I'm acting on it!"

"It'd be quite painful for your cock if you did," she blinked, looking down at his crotch.

"Perhaps, but there are other ways to -"

"Niklaus, that's enough," Elijah sighed as he rose to his feet and made his way over to Myriam. "Miss Myriam?" He offered his arm to her. "I'd like to show you something that I've prepared yesterday, shortly after you went into Bella's room to vent your frustrations with my brother, I'm sure you're going to like it."

"Monsieur Elijah," she curtsied, taking his arm. "There would not be much that could satisfy my frustrations with your brother - either one."

"Oh, believe me, I fully understand. I've lived with them for over a thousand years," Elijah chuckled slightly as he took her to a room opposite of Bella's. Not next to Bella's, but opposite of the courtyard. "This is for you," he said as he opened the door to an elegant looking living room that lead into a different area with a walk-in closet and a bathroom. "If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask, please."

"I don't piss," she pointed out.

"You do take showers, don't you?" Elijah countered playfully, hearing his brother mumble something underneath his breath from upstairs that she gets pissed off enough. "The toilet was already there, the workers had to make a minimum of noise."

Myriam rolled her eyes at Klaus' antics and smiled. "Thank you Elijah. It's lovely. Now I have an excuse to go shopping for new clothes courtesy of Daddy."

Elijah grinned then as he handed her a prepaid credit card. "I've put a little money on this for you, please, spend it any way you want."

"No, no. Peter can well afford it and he has me stuck here with your insufferable brother. He can suffer a little financial hit, since they seem to be besties and all. I wonder if they were ever more than that…?"

"Knowing Niklaus, anything is possible," Elijah smiled as he put the card back into his jacket pocket. "Dinner is in a few hours. Please join us, we do love your company."

~o.O.o~

Myriam hadn't been kidding when she said that Bella liked to color. Even with having the crayons for only half an hour, Bella was intensely coloring in her book, making sure she stayed within the lines, although with crayons that was quite difficult, even Kol knew that. She didn't even notice him coming in, or so he thought.

Bella looked up to him and blinked when she saw her face. "She got you good."

"Trust me, it was far worse," Kol sighed as he sat down opposite of her and looked at the coloring that she was doing. "That's great, Bella! Those colors fit absolutely well together."

"Do they?" Bella replied as she looked at her picture and then back at Kol. "Your face is healing on its own."

"Slowly, yes. Your sister packs a mean punch, broke some bones."

"I can heal too, want to see?" she said excitedly as she took the box knife that Myriam had used to get rid of tags on the clothes and open the crayon package and sliced open her hand. She hadn't expected it to hurt. She hadn't expected it to bleed so much, but she couldn't show Kol that she was hurting. Instead, she held up her hand and made him watch for a while before she pulled her hand back and started to poke the incision. "Why isn't it healing?"

Kol bit his hand and pooled some of his blood into her hand to start the healing process. "Don't do that again," Kol said as he grabbed a towel from the bathroom and started to clean her hand.

"But why isn't it healing on its own?"

"Freya has been cleansing you from everything you were affected with, remember? Perhaps your regeneration abilities were magical, herb induced, and it's a good sign that you're not healing. That means Freya's antidotes and spells are working."

"But… but now I'm defective," Bella said as she looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I can get hurt now."

He smiled then as he finished cleaning up her hand. "You're not defective, darling, it means you're becoming more human, and that's very important because that's what you are."

She gently touched his bruised face then. "Does it hurt?"

"Only a little, don't worry about me, tomorrow I'll be handsome again," he smiled at her before pointing at her crayons. "Would you like me to see if Nik has pencils? They're much easier to use than those crayons."

"Oh," Bella looked at her crayons and then thought for a moment. "No, it's alright, I don't want to bother him for that. I'm happy with these."

"Are you sure? I could go to the shops instead?"

Bella nodded. "You don't have to do that for me. I like this."

"If you're sure?" Kol asked as she nodded again for an answer. He sat back down in his chair while she continued to color in her coloring book. "Do you mind if I stay here for awhile?"


	12. Chapter 12

Kol's face had healed by the time breakfast came around and for the first time everyone saw Bella in different clothes; Myriam had convinced her to wear the summer dress that she had bought and had fixed her hair and Bella looked like a real girl. Absolutely beautiful. "See, she scrubs up nicely," Myriam smiled as they sat down at the table, Myriam happy to see the same small glasses of blood on her plate as during dinner the night before. It had been such a surprise that this way she was able to join in on a normal thing such as breakfast, lunch and dinner.

She was still ignoring Klaus, and Kol. She still wasn't convinced that this was the right place for her and Bella.

"Hope's coming home from school today for a week or so," Klaus announced. "I shall pick her up myself in Mystic Falls and inform her about the recent changes since I last saw her. I will be gone for a couple of hours."

"Rebekah texted me last night, she'll be arriving home today as well," Kol said as he moved the stack of pancakes closer to Bella. "And I believe Marcel arrived home this morning, no doubt that everything is in your study, Nik."

"Well, that will have to wait until tonight after Hope's sleeping," Klaus referred to the information Marcel had retrieved from Peter. "Elijah, if you'd be so kind as to put that in our safe for now, that would be lovely."

"Of course."

"I've finished my coloring book," Bella spoke up as she carefully picked a pancake from the plate as she looked at Kol. "Some images aren't neat, I couldn't stay within the lines with the thick crayons… I thought about sharpening them but you took the knife away when you left last night."

"Of course I took the knife away after your little stunt," Kol laughed as he buttered himself a roll. "You'd likely have tried to see if you'd still heal despite it was proven otherwise. All night! We would have found you dead on the floor because of the loss of blood!"

"Wait, what? Why didn't you tell me?" Myriam said as she was on her sister within a blink. "Where did you cut yourself?"

"Relax, she's fine," Kol rolled his eyes at Myriam. "She was watching my face heal and she told me that she could do that too, heal quickly. You left the box cutter there, so it's your fault she wanted to prove it. But thanks to my sister's cleansing spells and detox potions, Bella has lost that ability now. She's turning into a proper human."

"I won't do it again," she said as she withdrew her hand from Myriam's grasp to get her pancake and started to eat it. "But I liked the coloring, it brought some quiet in my head."

Klaus quickly went up to his study and grabbed some blank paper and a set of pencils, colored, but also grey ones to draw with, before returning for breakfast. He sat down next to Bella for a moment as he drew a small bird on one of the blank sheets. "Did you know you can make your own coloring books? Just like this," he said as he kept drawing. "You first draw what you want to draw, and then color them in." When Bella looked at him in amazement while still eating her pancake, he smiled. "Why don't you try that after breakfast? As stated earlier, I'll be gone for a few hours as I'll be getting Hope, but I'm sure that if you ask Kol nicely he'd get you some more blank paper when you need it."

"Thank you, Klaus," she said, truly meaning it. She didn't know what happened with Klaus, but he was _kind_ to her now.

When he finished drawing the bird and its broken cage, he put the pencil down and went back to his own seat to finish his breakfast. "You're very welcome, little bird." Perhaps Bella had a talent for drawing, for art. Who'd know? Bella was observant, she noticed the littlest details, perhaps she'd be a great talent! But it required extreme dedication and patience to color in a coloring book with crayons, and that's why he made the decision to give Bella some of his expensive papers and pencils to play with.

"Or," Myriam said after angrily knocking back one of her glasses of blood, "We could play board games, I bought some yesterday, I showed you."

"Can we do that tomorrow, Myriam? I'd really like to try this," Bella said as she pointed at the papers.

"Perhaps you could try to draw Myriam today," Klaus suggested. Even if Bella wasn't talented - it was too early to tell - everyone should have the opportunity to draw a portrait. It was what children were taught in school. He had Hope's first painting with him framed in his study. It was special, and no doubt it would be something special for Myriam too, to have something like that. "That way, you're still spending time together."

Myriam huffed. She hated it that Klaus had become less fearful of her sister and that he was able to connect to her in his own way. She hated him for being so perfect in that way, but she was wondering if that would have ever happened had she not beaten his brother to a pulp.

Kol snickered as he took a sip of his blood and continued to eat his roll. Unfortunately, he couldn't pass up on making a remark, so he did. No matter the consequences. "Why won't _you_ draw Tinkerbell as one of your French girls, Nik?"

Myriam growled as she reached out to Kol and broke his arm, before driving a fork through his hand.

"Hey! Ouch!" Kol whined, pulling the fork out of his hand and straightening his arm again so it could set properly. "Careful, Tink, or we will have to build you that Cold One proof bunker so we can put you there for safekeeping!"

"That's not _kind_ , Kol," Bella told him as she reached for another pancake. "And what is a French girl?"

"It's from a movie called Titanic," Freya explained kindly. "It's about a ship that had an accident in 1912 and sank. It sailed well for four days, and the story of that movie takes place during that time. There's a boy called Jack, and a girl named Rose, and when Rose discovers that Jack's an artist and drawing a lot of _French girls_ , she asks him to draw her like that. So she poses for him without her clothes on, naked."

"But…" Bella dropped her pancake as she thought deeply. "Only couples should see each other naked, right? Like…" she thought hard. "Alice and Jasper were a couple. I sometimes saw them imagining each other naked in their minds when they forgot I was around. Or Emmett and Rosalie. Or regular human beings when I was outside. And a couple means two, right? Klaus and Hope are a couple?"

"No!" Klaus said shocked. "Sweetheart, do you even know what it means to be a couple? What a couple is? Especially in the context that you want to use?"

Bella shook her head.

"It's when two people are completely and utterly in love with each other," Freya said when no one decided to explain it to Bella. "Me and Keelin, for example. We are in a romantic relationship and we're a couple. No one should ever be in a romantic relationship with a child and besides, Hope is Klaus' daughter, no one should ever be in a romantic relationship with your own child."

"Oh. But I saw Kol naked."

"Because he's an idiot," Freya replied. "But you're right, Bella, you don't necessarily have to be in a relationship, be a couple, for an _artist_ to draw someone naked. It's what makes things art."

"But you're not going to draw anyone naked, you hear?" Kol said quickly. Oh, he'd be horrified if she'd turn out to be extremely talented and would draw him naked. Not that he was ashamed of his body, not at all. He used to be quite the exhibitionist in his day, just like the rest of the family, but no.

"Are Myriam and I a couple?"

"You're a couple of sisters. You're not in a romantic relationship with each other," Freya was glad that Bella seemed to become more aware of everything, soaking up information and not acting completely like an idiot. Like Kol had said earlier, Bella was getting clean. "I know, I know, the English language is quite annoying with the different meanings for the same words."

"Like the word fuck."

Kol spat out his tea as he looked at Bella in shock. Did she honestly just say the word out loud?

"I still don't know the other meaning of it though. Just Myriam's version of it," Bella said innocently as she nibbled on her pancake again. "And from what I've heard, it's the best meaning of it. She doesn't like the other meaning very much, so it must be horrible."

"To be fair, it's a horribly vulgar way to describe something so intimate and beautiful," Klaus said as he got up. "I'll be back in a few hours," he said before heading to the exit.

Kol still couldn't believe that Bella voiced the word 'fuck' and it had been strangely arousing the way she had said it so innocently. He needed to get help for his stupid infatuation with this girl. Even if she'd unlearn everything taught to her over the course of the last twenty years and would somewhat resemble a normal human, it would be wrong as he'd been the one partially responsible for her recovery.

It was just that; a stupid infatuation and lust. He needed to create more distance between himself and Bella. "I might go to France," he said. "I was supposed to join our sister there but seeing as she's returning today, I can go by myself."

"You're not going anywhere, Kol," Elijah told him. "With the threat of the Cullens still around, and their masters, we need you here."

"But I could do a side trip to Italy and take care of those masters," Kol countered. "Volterra, big castle, hard to miss."

"And again, you're staying."

Fine. Then he'd simply have to get some sense beaten into him by his sister once he and she would catch up, and he was going to ask Freya if she was _sure_ that Bella didn't have something extra to make him like her. Like magic. Or another ability or something along those lines. How else would he have fallen so hard for someone like her?

Bella was simple, yet she had a brilliant mind. Bella was emotionally stunted due to her treatment by the Cullens, but she was getting better. She was quite what he wanted in a girlfriend, strong and smart and incredibly gorgeous, but Bella was .innocent. And that was endearing, cute and adorable. And he didn't do all that. Myriam was more of his type, but oh, he had a severe dislike to the Cold One and only tolerated her because of Bella.

He was fucked, in the wrong sense of the word.

Myriam was glad that Klaus left for a couple of hours, it gave her some breathing space. She figured that while Bella was drawing - such a boring thing to do, really. Myriam had only given her the crayons and the coloring book to see what Bella would do with it and how could she have known she'd go obsessive about it? - she was going to explore the city some more. Perhaps run around and check hiding spots for Cold Ones. On the other hand, she was one herself, and Klaus' vampires could be a little excited and then she'd had to kill him and then nobody would be happy because that meant less protection and-

Sighing, Myriam downed her last glass of blood. "I'm bored. Is there maybe someone I can spar with?"

"Can you promise not to break them?" Elijah mused.

"No, because I don't hold back."

"Then it's best if you don't spar, Myriam, we need our vampire army to be in one piece."

"And _we_ are certainly not going for another round," Kol said as he got to his feet and headed to his room to unplug his television and went to install it in Bella's. He didn't need the TV anyway, and he was certain that Bella would get bored with it. Or, she'd learn the wrong things and his TV would be returned. For now, he needed space.

He went all to the top of the building to look down on Bella, who had made some room on the table and had started to draw shapes for a couple of hours. Lines, getting familiar with how things worked and the first thing she drew wasn't a stick figure, no, it was a fucking glass, in 3D and everything. Sure, there were tiny mistakes, but from his point of view it was perfect. Bella was observant and had an eye for detail. Klaus was going to want to nurture her drawing skills, and Kol wasn't sure how he felt about that.

He did see her get lost in the lines, though. As if she was meditating and using the lines to guide her. Finding Freya, he sat down next to her on the sofa and poured himself a drink. "Question; do you think Bella's mental powers are getting stronger?"

"I sure hope not," Freya laughed as she looked at her brother. "Why? Are you worried she won't keep her word and stay out of our heads?"

"No, I'm worried that she'll continue to hear the thoughts from the entire street outside. Did she gain this ability naturally?"

"That's uncertain, brother. A lot of things about her, and her sister in that sense, are uncertain. It could be a part of her DNA and as you may know, DNA can't be changed. If it does get worse and she won't be able to control it, turning her might be the only safe option for all of us," she then had a thought. "I could see if she's able to perform magic on her own, then it's quite possible that the mind reading thing is connected to that, and that…"

"Is connected to her DNA. Gotcha," Kol sighed before realizing that he was yet again, busying himself with Bella's wellbeing. "Do you reckon she can make us see things that aren't real?"

"I believe so, but I doubt she knows about it," she replied quietly. "She's told me a few times now that she hates this ability of hers and hopes that once she's declared healthy by me, and Keelin, that it's gone."

"And you don't see that happening?"

Freya shook her head. "Most of the gunk we found in her body, magical or herbal, was to gain control over her. To repress her abilities. I think the Cullens were scared shitless of her, in all honesty. But then again, if they hadn't stunted her growth, she would have been able to control her powers more and not go into meltdown mode and hurt people." She sighed then. "She could still prove to be a danger to us all, what if the Cullens meant for her to come here to make sure we can't form a coherent thought? I mean, you're unkillable, but she can still hurt you."

"We are also self healing, it might take us some time, but we'll be alright," Kol snapped. "And don't you dare to bring that theory to Niklaus because he'll go into full paranoia mode while I can't see Bella do that to us, at all. And no, I'm not blinded."

"No, I think you're right. She knows what she can do, but does she understand her abilities? That's the best way to learn control, doesn't it?"

"Yes, but unfortunately she can do a lot of damage with her abilities, who's going to help her understand it?"

"I vote for her sister, but that's only because she's a Cold One and might be more resilient."

"We should wait until we've discussed the information Peter has sent along with Marcel. Perhaps there's more we need to know," Kol replied as he looked over the balustrade and saw that Bella was still drawing. "Klaus will love it that she's a natural."

"Ah, just wait until she gets introduced to the television," Freya laughed. "She'll likely be glued to it and we'll have to think of ways to get her off of it."

"I doubt it."

"Twenty bucks says she'll be addicted to it."

"And I say twenty that she'll have to be dragged to the bloody thing to watch it because she doesn't like it," he said as he shook his sister's hand.

"Oh, is there a bet?" Rebekah's voice sounded as she walked onto the courtyard with all of her bags and smiled up to her brother and sister. "I'm in!" She then pointed at Bella, who was still drawing at the table. "Who's that? Oh, don't tell me, Nik is going through that phase again where he brings home strays."

"Actually... _she_ is Hope's fault," Kol grinned as he used his speed to walk down the stairs and stood next to Bella. "Bella, this is my sister Rebekah, Rebekah, this is Bella. She was raised by Cold Ones in the worst possible way, but she's friendly."

"Uhuh, and what's her defect?" Rebekah questioned.

"She's not defective," Kol said as he looked at Bella, who was now frowning as she looked at Rebekah. "She's different, and she's getting better. I think you'll like her."

"And why am I not surprised you have a crush on her?" Rebekah said tiredly. "Honestly, Kol, I never liked Davina but…"

"Don't even go there," he growled as he gently squeezed Bella's shoulder. "Where's your sister, darling?"

 _Bloody bleeding hearts, the lot of them! Did I forget that cute dress in France? Such a pity… I swear, if they bring in another stray, I'm going to leave. Permanently. It's hard enough to get the attention around here! I need to take Freya for a pampering session at the spa, I'm still in vacation mode and she needs to get to my level. Get ridiculously drunk. Buy more clothes, one can never have too many clothes. I need a drink._ _Why is the girl looking at me like that? Do I smell bad? Something on my face? Oh, she looks so unnerving and could do with some weight gain._

"Stop that, Bella," Kol said kindly. "Could you call your sister for me so I can introduce her to another one of mine?"

"She's bored," Bella finally spoke as she looked up at him. "I suppose she can teach me to play one of the board games she has in her bags," she concluded. "Myriam? I'm done drawing."

"Great!" Myriam said as she appeared with some snacks and one of the board games she had bought; Ticket To Ride. It seemed easy enough. After placing it on the table, she noticed that Kol was standing close to a blonde _and_ her sister. Not trying to go in full rage mode, she smiled at the girl. "Myriam, I'm Bella's sister."

Rebekah stared at Myriam for awhile before responding. "Rebekah, Kol's sister… and are you sure you're welcome here? Nik doesn't have a habit of spending time with Cold Ones."

"He doesn't have a choice. I'm here for my sister," Myriam replied as she started to open the box and set the game up. Deciding to at least try to be civil, she looked up to the two traditionals. "You two want to join us? It's a lot more fun to play a game when there's more than two playing."


	13. Chapter 13

Bella made sure that either her sister or Kol was between Hope and her at all times. Preferably both. She had put a soft shield around herself, and her sister, just in case, but Hope would be able to weaken them anyway and get into hurt them. If she wanted to. The worst part was that Hope didn't have to go back to school for the year, something about being too smart and too powerful and whatnot, and that they'd see her back in school the following year.

The Mikaelsons were delighted, of course. Bella had enough experience with children around her and had enough for a lifetime, and Myriam disliked Klaus' daughter in general, because she was Klaus' daughter and Myriam disliked Klaus. Besides, if she was truly everything she had heard about her, then Hope could be a threat. Children were fickle.

It was almost as if since Hope's arrival, the state of high alert or trying to fix things was gone. Everyone was taking a breather, but Myriam felt something was off. She was uneasy, restless. She needed to kill something. Less and less she had the feeling that Bella wasn't safe here. That _she_ wasn't safe here and Myriam knew that she could keep the both of them safe without having to deal with these traditionals.

And, a few days after Hope's arrival, she decided to snoop around. She had done this before, of course, but she was going to try and hang out with Marcel's vampires that had been mostly hiding out in the basement. There were plenty of spaces to hide, and plenty of things to hear. There was the usual gossip; who was fucking with who, who scored big, who was stronger, who had the biggest dick… who thought it was stupid for Kol to carry a torch for the broken girl…

See, Myriam could agree with that, but now that she'd been around for a bit longer, he seemed to be struggling with the same thought. He hadn't been around Bella much, only to show his face once or twice, to check up on her, but he hadn't actually spent time with her. And Bella didn't understand. Of course she didn't. But how could Myriam tell her sister that Kol liked her for more than kindness? That, eventually, he might want to become a couple with her? A) Myriam wasn't going to, because it was stupid and B) this was something Kol had to tell Bella himself; that she was too- unusual for someone like him to date, but surely there were plenty of other fish in the sea!

And then, Myriam would punch his face again. Because that's what sisters do.

Bella was doing better. She continued to become better every single day. Sometimes in small increments, sometimes in the bigger ones. Bella had already figured out that she didn't like cartoons on the television. Myriam still had to find out what was on air these days to see if Bella would maybe like to watch something else, but the TV remained off, for now.

It was fun to listen to Marcel's vampire talk for awhile until she heard something that she truly didn't want to hear. They had been fighting off some Cold Ones on the border of New Orleans lately, which, to them, wasn't a surprise because Freya had an exact map of where Cold Ones were and how they were moving; partially created with Myriam's blood, no doubt.

Myriam lifted one of the vampires' phones then, and snuck off to see what more information she could find. There were children missing. She managed to get on the website they had set up as part of the underground and there were confirmations of Cold One sightings across the globe, it was as if they were amassing an army; more people were being turned. Newborns. And they were on their way to the States. All because the Cullens threw a temper tantrum about their most dangerous weapon being stolen from them. Bella. And then rumors about Bella having a sister. There was a prize on both of their heads.

All of this for a poor, innocent girl who would probably be able to fend off a few Cold Ones by herself, but not an entire army.

Bella needed to get out of New Orleans. Fast. They needed to run. There was no way that the Mikaelsons could keep them safe, or help them fight an entire army like this. Why did noone tell her about all of this? Was it to ensure that she wouldn't start raging again? Was it so that they could turn them both in? Then what was the purpose of trying to help Bella? To fuck with her mind?

Oh, she _was_ raging. She was going to get answers, now. There had still been some light on in Klaus' study and she had heard hushed voices coming from there. Myriam was definitely going to get an answer or she'd take Bella away and they were going to disappear. Getting to Klaus' study quickly, she didn't even bother knocking as she walked inside. "Why didn't you tell me that there were Cold Ones at the border of New Orleans or that the Cold Ones are making an army of newborns to get Bella? Why!" She said angrily as she threw the phone at him, not even bothered by the strange looks she received from all Mikaelson siblings.

"That's exactly why," Klaus pointed out as he rose to his feet, ready to grab her should she lunge for one of his siblings again. "Because you would get angry. Perhaps not angry, but scared, which makes you angry."

"I told you we should have told her," Kol replied as he made sure he was on the other side of the room. There was no way that he was going to get punched again.

"There's nothing to worry about, we are dealing with the problem discreetly," Elijah explained calmly. "You're as discreet as an elephant in a porcelain cabinet, Myriam."

"It's my duty to kill Cold Ones," she spat. "I want in on the fucking fight, you hear me?"

Klaus sighed and shrugged. "I shall inform Marcel that from now on, you will be training his vampires, preparing them to fight the Cold Ones. That's the best offer I can give you for the sake of your, and your sister's, safety."

"Fine," Myriam scowled. It was better than nothing. She wasn't even going to fight this decision. "But I want to be kept in the loop about everything. Bella may not be someone who can handle it, but I'm a fucking soldier, and you fuckers tend to forget that."

"But you don't have to be a soldier, Myriam," Rebekah spoke as she looked at her. "You can be a girl, first. Honestly, we should go out and have a girl's night out with the lot of us once this is over. It'll be so much fun."

"For now you should utilize me for my knowledge about the Cold Ones and my knowledge of how to fucking fight them," Myriam said bitterly as she sat down in one of the empty chairs. "Other than that, and being a sister to my sister, I'm not doing it. Now, what were you talking about before I came in?"

"Actually discussing whether or not we should read the information your father has so freely given us without you," Elijah replied.

"With. End of. Shit might be unreliable as fuck now due to that fucking asshole."

"And there could also be some valuable information in there, who knows?" Klaus said as he walked to the safe and retrieved the package. "It certainly is a lot more than was left behind by your former lover."

"Shut up," Myriam muttered.

"Right then," Klaus said as he handed the package to Elijah and poured himself another bourbon. "Whatever we learn tonight will not leave these four walls and we're only going to inform Bella when it's necessary."

Elijah opened the package and started to read. "This is incredible," he said, flabbergasted. "I am not sure how they managed to get this, but then again, if your mother pretended to be a nurse, I shouldn't be too surprised," he continued as he pointed at the files. "Freya, perhaps this is something for Keelin to look at when we're done, it shows in detail how the process of getting Renée pregnant with heavily modified embryos and what they did to those embryos…" he said as he drifted off as he kept reading. "Remarkable."

"What?" Myriam said as she moved over to him to read what he was reading and she felt herself get physically ill, even though Cold Ones couldn't get sick. "It does make a lot of fucking sense… I fucking hate science."

Before anyone asked, Elijah explained. "We all know how normal babies are created, and Carlisle Cullen took real good care of those embryos, stripping them from human abnormalities, such as defective genetic markers. He then added the DNA of some of his coven members from when they were still human."

"How? Some have been dead for centuries?" Kol wondered. "Even I know that you can't keep blood right after freezing it for a year."

"He's some kind of Wunderkind," Myriam sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I have no doubt that he has found his own ways. Thing is, he manipulated multiple embryos. Some with all of the material, some with only a few and only Bella and I survived. One of us with material from Emmett's and Alice 's DNA, the other one with Jasper's and Edward's. It fucking makes so much sense, but Jasper… I always believed that he was turned by some vampire called Maria in the Southern Wars, and not by Carlisle… or that bitch worked with the fucker. And I believed he had never even met the Cullens before he went undercover with them. For fuck's sake!"

"You're going to have to explain why it makes so much sense, darling," Kol prompted her as he poured himself a glass of bourbon.

Myriam sighed. "I've always been very strong, even as a human. Emmett's the coven's strong man. I'm pretty sure Alice's gift didn't take; she can see what's going to happen with people based on the decisions they're making. And I believe we've only started to scrape the surface of what Bella's capable of; Edward can read minds, just like Bella does, but she doesn't have it that bad and can actually turn it off - which could be a part of the Cullen's conditioning. Jasper… the fucker could manipulate emotions from those around him. Bella senses the emotions and thank fuck she can't control us like that."

"No, but she does absorb emotions like a sponge. Her own, surely, but when she had that meltdown almost two weeks ago, she made sure that we didn't get hurt. Instead, we were blown away by her own emotions. Those that she didn't understand. Her pain, her fears, and even her joy," Freya explained. "It's something we need to become more aware of the more she becomes more human, the more the cleanses start to work."

"Even within the womb, Carlisle continued to manipulate the embryos, resulting in the deaths of many, except for the two that survived," Elijah continued. "It continued on a regular basis, right until the girls were born. And then the medical information stops about Myriam, because you were pronounced dead by Charlotte and taken," Elijah said before smiling. "However, Peter and Charlotte did note every single benchmark that you hit as a human. First smile. First word. First step." He handed Myriam those papers to look at. "True parents."

Elijah then sighed as he looked through the next couple of pages. "A more detailed form about what exactly they were giving Bella, I recognize some of the things as herbs and serums, but I can't make sense of the other parts," he said as he handed the papers to Freya. "It's something for you and Keelin to sort through."

"From what I can tell without even looking in too deeply they had a witch on staff and a powerful one at that, no wonder I have to work so hard… Holy shit, they really opened her up without anesthetic at some point and poked around?"

"Yep," Myriam sighed. "And other _fun_ experiments."

"Myr! I found you! Look!" Bella said as she came running in with her drawing and immediately went to her sister. "I did it! I drew you! Look!" She said with a childlike innocence.

Myriam laughed then as she took the drawing and looked at it. It was incredibly detailed, every hair was in place, every freckle, every angle on her face. "Wow, Bella, that's incredible!" She said as she turned it around for everyone else to see. "But shouldn't you be resting?"

"I couldn't rest until I drew that. It's like… I had to," she then noticed the entire Mikaelson family sitting in Klaus' study, looking at her as if she was insane. "I'm sorry… A-am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all," Klaus smiled at her, well impressed about her drawing. It only took her a couple of days to get it right, she was a fast learner. She was talented. "We're always very happy to see you, sweetheart."

Bella felt it differently. It was like she was being stared at and she didn't like that. "I-I am intruding. I'll go back to my room and sleep."

She was just about to walk out again when Elijah spoke. "Bella, does the phrase _La Cantanta Si Alza_ mean something to you?"

"It's Italian," Bella replied, half shrugging. "Doctor Carlisle liked the Italian language, and even spoke it with the Volturi."

"It means The Singer Rises, or wakes up," he tried. Granted, the sentence was written in a different kind of handwriting and it could have been written by Jasper for all he knew. A lie. But he had to check.

"I know, but it doesn't mean anything, at least not that I'm aware, is that a bad thing?"

"No, thank you, Bella. Have a good night."

Bella nodded before going back to her room.

"What was that?" Kol asked his brother. "Why did you ask her?"

"Well, I'm impressed that she knows another language, but also because it's the only phrase in the entire package that's not in English. Perhaps it was something important, but I suppose it wasn't and it was likely written upon by someone who needed to jot something down quickly and not caring about what it was on."

Myriam snatched the paper out of Elijah's hand and sighed. "Jasper. Oh, and hey, look! It even says 'trigger' right there! A trigger for what?! And you went ahead and said it out loud?!"

"She didn't seem to be affected, I'm sure this is a lie," Elijah dismissed Myriam.

Angrily, she rose from her chair. "What if it's not? Now I have to spend the entire night with her to see if she reacts to it to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid!" Myriam fumed as she went straight to Bella's room.

"She has a point," Klaus pointed out. "The Cullens were barbaric, what if they used some sort of mental trigger? We already know that they mentally conditioned her with the right responses. What if they hid this from her?"

"Oh, please, Niklaus, why would they do that?"

"Oh, I don't know, Elijah, in case she falls into the wrong hands?" Kol shot at his brother. "That was highly irresponsible and I'm with Myriam on this. I suppose I'll be watching her all night as well," he said before joining Myriam in Bella's room. "You know, darling, the bed is far more comfortable to sleep on than the floor," he said as he stood by the door, a smile on his face. "I've said it many times before, but why won't you try it?"

"Are you both going to be here?"

"Looks like we are," Kol nodded, carefully eyeing Myriam. "We merely want a place to hide for a while, Nik isn't too happy with us at the moment."

"We could play a game?" Bella suggested. "Or something else?"

"Darling, you don't have to entertain us," he said as he sat down on the sofa. "Go to bed."

Bella felt that something was off, but couldn't quite pinpoint what. "But you don't like each other very much."

"I promise I won't punch him," Myrian smiled at her. "We'll play nice."

They were trying too hard to get her to rest, and that was ridiculous. Bella wasn't tired, even though it was dark outside. She was too excited about the perfect drawing she had made of Myriam and wondered where it was now. "You're not hiding from Klaus," Bella said as she sat down at her table and started a new drawing. "But you are hiding something from me and until you tell me what that is, I'm not going to rest."

"While I'd usually applaud a positive change in behaviour, now is not the time to be sassy," Myriam scolded her.

"Then tell me what the fuck is going on!" Bella blurted as she snapped her pencil. "You two don't like each other. This is the longest amount of time Kol has spent in this room for a couple of days now as I've probably done something wrong and he dislikes me now. You're hiding something from me and if you're not going to tell me, I'll break my way into your heads and get the truth out anyway."

He had not expected this behavior from her, she actually sounded like quite the villainess. _And_ used 'fuck' in the right context. "Bella, calm down, darling." Was it true? Had the sentence been a trigger to unlock Bella's true mind or something?

"I am calm. But I'm done with not knowing things because you think I won't understand. Tell me anyway."

"We're here just out of precaution, darling," Kol finally admitted, earning him a dirty look from Myriam. "It's very well possible that that Italian phrase was a trigger of some sort, a mental trigger. Trained into you, tucked away."

"So you're afraid," Bella said after giving it some thought. "Of me. Just like they were. D-Do you think I like being able to read minds? Or turn minds into jelly? Feel emotions but not being able to make sense of them? To become a shield or a container is somewhat better because at least it doesn't hurt anyone. If there was a trigger, I would have been triggered. You're making me sad and I don't want to be sad."

It hurt that the two people Bella thought were deserving of her kindness were still afraid of her. Hadn't she proved that she would never deliberately try to hurt someone? All the things they had said in the time she'd been away from home had been lies. She didn't deserve this confinement, she didn't deserve the pencils or the food. Monsters didn't have nice things. Myriam and Kol deserved better than a monster.

She opened the door and threw up a shield to push away anyone who was going to attempt of getting close. Bella was going home. Edward had come to her in a dream and he had told her where he was, that he wanted her to come back. And, at first, Bella had rejected him, because he had hurt her and had left her behind, but she was better off with him and the Cullens. While they were afraid of her, they knew what to do to make sure she was safe for everyone.

She was strong now, she wasn't going to be stopped. She was going home.


	14. Chapter 14

"Where are you going?" Myriam asked playfully as she walked behind Bella, feeling the edges of her shield, for now playing along with Bella's little escape. It was in the middle of the night, people were still in the streets and were being pushed aside as Bella passed them with her shield.

"Go away," Bella said as she continued to walk. Edward said he'd be at the big bridge that went over the water and with a little luck she would find it. Still, walking down the street was quite scary, even with her shield up. ' _Be a good girl and keep walking.'_ She couldn't believe that Myriam, her sister, was afraid of her. Hadn't she been looking for Bella all this time? She even said that she was able to make Bella safe to be around.

Bella didn't need to be safe to be around. She had excellent control over her telepathy. She hated it. She hated it so much. She hated it that she could hurt people. She was a monster and she needed to be put away. "I'm a good girl."

Myriam huffed as she pushed her hands in her pockets and continued to walk behind her sister. "Good girls don't walk away from their home."

"It's not my home. I've tried. Everyone's afraid of me, treats me as if I'm an idiot and I don't want to feel anymore," Bella said, picking up the pace as she crossed Jackson Square. The water was there, all she needed now was to find the bridge with Edward on it. "I-I am going home now. Doctor Carlisle will fix me and it'll be okay. No more feelings. No more thoughts."

She sucked in a breath as she tried to come up with a response. "Bella, you're broken to them now," she eventually said. "Freya's magic and potions have cleansed your body from the magic the Cullens had you on, the potions, the herbs. You're starting to come into your own personality, you're using your words intelligently, you're voicing your thoughts. You're of no use to them now, just imagine what the Cullens will do to you to get you back to where you were."

"I welcome it," Bella said proudly. "Because I'm a good girl. I'm a monster. I deserve this."

"They might not even try to get you back to where you were, they might just end up destroying you for being even more defective," Myriam pointed out. "You know what they thought of you, you heard their thoughts. Their voices."

"I don't mind."

"Well, I do," Myriam huffed. "I don't want them to destroy you for who you are and what you can do. Or because they don't want to fix you, because you're my sister and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Easy for you to say," Bella huffed. "You're immortal. I still die."

"Not if you turn, too. You don't have to become a Cold One, you can ask Kol to turn you. With traditionals, magic won't transfer with us. You could be free. You could still live a happy and healthy life."

"Don't you get it?" Bella cried out. "I'm tired. I'm so tired of everything. I'm tired of not being good enough. I'm tired of being a danger. I'm tired of needing to learn everything. I don't want to be a burden, nor that people fear me. I'm tired of people not trusting me, that I'm not going to abuse my ability to hear their inner thoughts. The Mikaelsons made it clear I needed to stay out, and I am. I _can_ be trusted. I'm a good girl! If Edward doesn't want to fix me and destroy me instead, then I welcome it."

Myriam wasn't sure if this behaviour was because of the so-called 'trigger', or that Bella had been hiding her progress from them all. From the sounds of it, she was hitting puberty. She was a fast learner, and Myriam couldn't be more proud. But to hear that her sister was aching for a release, to make sure she wouldn't be a danger to everyone around her, hurt. She wasn't going to let go of Bella, she would never do that.

Myriam knew that Kol, and likely Klaus, were right on their tail but out of sight. It was a relief that she wasn't alone, but she was grateful that they did recognize that they'd only make things worse for this situation if they'd come in and try to talk Bella out of this. She caught a whiff of Freya, and looking over her shoulder, she saw the blonde witch, waving sheepishly.

Bella stilled then, when they came across a bridge. It was the same bridge from her dreams and she could sense Edward already, even though she shouldn't, he was too far away for her to sense him. It was getting worse. Her curse was getting worse. She knew that she was out of his range, and rethought her options. She couldn't go back. The Mikaelsons were good people and Bella was a danger to them. Kol didn't even like her that much anymore and if it hadn't been for Myriam, she would have been alone.

 _Kindness_ was a nice way of living, but it wasn't for her. She didn't deserve it. It was time to go home. "Before I walk further, can you explain to me why Kol hasn't been around much? I know he's been in his room a lot."

"Why should I tell you? If you're going back to the Cullens it's not important," Myriam said angrily. "If you want an answer to that question, you're going to forget about the Cullens and come back with me so you can ask Kol yourself."

 _She's taking her time. Perhaps her sister is with her. Good, then this will be easy. Give the command, and it's over. And then we're going after those traditionals that have been harboring them and pluck them raw. They need to pay for the losses we've had in the last few weeks because of them. Pay for corrupting the girl to the point where fixing is not an option, even Carlisle thinks that it'll be brutal if they tried. Not for the girl, but for them. The Volturi are well angry and if we don't kill these traditionals, then the Volturi will kill us, and then them. Figure out where Bella's sister has been all this time and kill those responsible._

 _And then, only then, we can start rebuilding. Restart with a new set of humans desperate for money and a child. Where the fuck is she? I can't cross this bridge even further without alerting the traditionals! 'Where are you?'_

Bella couldn't believe what she heard and saw in Edward's head. Death. A lot of it. Myriam's death. Kol's death. Everyone's death or extremely hurt. It was ugly. She had seen a lot of ugliness in his head before, but it had been her life then. Now that she knew better… Even if she would go back to him, everyone would be dead. But she couldn't stay, either. Turning back to her sister, there was something akin to fear in her eyes. "What's your opinion about the Mikaelsons? The truth and not holding anything back. Tell me about Kol," Bella said as she lowered her shield to allow Myriam in. "Are they truly better? Good? The way people are supposed to be?"

"I told you, you can come back and ask them yourself."

"No, I want to hear it from you," Bella said as she grabbed hold of her sister's shirt. Tightly. "Tell me. Make me understand. Quickly."

Myriam was taken aback, blinking. "Um, I suppose. Definitely, infinitely better than the Cullens. They love and see one another as a family and will defend against anyone that comes after them or anyone they consider family. As far as Kol… he's conflicted how he feels about you. He feels more than he should knowing that you aren't ready for the kind of relationship he'd like which is why he avoids you. That's why he needed to tell you that himself and he should still if you come back with me."

"It's because I'm not normal, is it?"

"None of us are normal. Jasper made me not trust any man, Bella," she pointed out.

"But you trust Klaus, don't you? You're mean to him, but I don't think you truly mean it."

"If I trusted him, I don't think I would push him away like I do. Not like that," she sighed, looking towards the bridge in desperation.

"But can you trust him in taking care of you? And me? Like he has?"

Turning to look her in the eyes, Myriam nodded. "I do, yes," she whispered. "He wouldn't hurt us."

"And whatever comes our way - soon - he will make sure you're safe, right?"

She narrowed her eyes on her sister, concern growing. "Bella? What do you hear? We will make it out of this together. You hear me?"

"Even if I'd go back to Edward, he won't stop until he gets to you, and the Mikaelsons and your parents…" she whispered. "He's scaring me with his thoughts. These thoughts usually come from Emmett."

"Then you are not going back. We will fight them together," Myriam grabbed her sister's shoulders. "We will do this as a family. Don't listen to him unless you can hear something that can help us against them."

"I think that answer is me…" Bella said as she looked at her sister. "They are _all_ here. The Cullens. Somewhere in New Orleans. Edward wants to give me the command and get it over with… what if he does that in a confined area for them? I could hurt them."

"What do you mean?"

Bella sighed as she looked over her shoulder towards the bridge. "Because you and Kol are right, apparently. There is a hidden trigger for me to go nuclear, and not just like… scramble brains. Kill."

"Nope, not going to happen," Myriam said as she turned her sister back to face her. "Let's go back to the compound where we're safe and talk some more."

 _Shit. Fuck. How did they know I was here? I can't wait longer. You know what? Fuck it. Fuck New Orleans. Fuck Carlisle and fuck the Volturi. 'Bella.'_

"He's getting impatient, you need to go," Bella said scared. "Make sure that these people in these houses are gone. He's going to think it. He's-"

' _La Cantata si libera.'_

Bella stumbled back and fell on the floor, clutching her head, closing her eyes as she tried to stop it. "You need to go, please," she cried. "I can't stop it. I- my head hurts so bad… people are going to die, Myriam!"

"Absolutely not," Myriam said as she sat down next to Bella and put her arms around her. "I'm staying, because nothing is going to happen to those people here, remember?"

Bella was crying as pain shot through her head and looked at Myriam. "You want to test that theory now?"

"This information comes from Peter himself. Absorb and deflect. I trust Peter, we can make sure the people of New Orleans don't get hurt, just let yourself go. It's okay. I'm here." Myriam kissed Bella's temple. Oh, she was scared shitless. It was an unproven theory but a sound one. But they wouldn't know what would happen until it actually happened. She could feel Bella's energy vibrate underneath her skin as she was holding her. "What did he unlock?"

"Everything," Bella said in a small voice, holding onto her sister. "So much power… it hurts. It hurts so bad…"

"Let it all go, it'll be alright," Myriam comforted her. "You won't hurt anyone, I promise." She could feel how Bella was still fighting it, and she applauded her sister's stubbornness but now was likely not the time. "Stop hurting yourself. Let it go. Allow Edward's last act to make you whole so you can live a beautiful life."

"How'd you-"

"Just a guess," Myriam kissed Bella's head again. "Go on then, give me all you've got."

"It hurts…"

"It'll be okay," she whispered as she held onto Bella even tighter. When Bella couldn't hold it anymore, she didn't hold back. Myriam could feel Bella's gift bounce between them as Myriam's gift worked. Deflect and absorb, until there was nothing left to deflect and absorb. Myriam could feel it underneath her skin, inside her mind, Bella kept crying out in pain as her gift kept bouncing between them.

When both girls collapsed, Kol and Klaus made their way over to them to make sure that they were still breathing, at least. They had heard the conversation between the girls and had quietly discussed to let Edward go, for now. To let him come to them and kill them all. Bella was still breathing but unconscious, and Myriam was unconscious, but still in one piece. "Well," Klaus said a bit lightheartedly. "At least we now know that her sister can knock her out."

"It's not funny, Nik," Kol said as he scooped up Bella. "Freya, get Keelin, Bella needs to be checked over," he told his sister who was hiding somewhere close.

Klaus lifted Myriam in his arms after tying a part of his shirt around her leaking arm. "She needs rest to recover, she's leaking venom," he said as he started to run home with her.

Freya was on the phone to Keelin as Kol started to walk towards her with Bella in his arms. "Yeah, great, Nik. There are Cold Ones just over that water and you're leaving your sister all by herself, well done," he said sarcastically to no one in particular, but causing Freya to snort.

"Brother, I can take care of myself. Take her home, Keelin will arrive shortly, I won't be long, either."

"No," he said as he continued to walk as she started walking. "You reckon I should feed Bella my blood?"

"Let's have Keelin check her out first," Freya smiled at him, gently putting a hand on his arm. "And then, I'll do a magical check up."

"It sounded to me that this should have destroyed her on her own."

"Yeah, and it likely would have, if it hadn't been for Myriam," she replied as they continued to walk. "But I don't think you'll have to worry about this happening again, but let's not assume that and figure it out first, okay?"

By the time they got home, Keelin was already waiting for them. Kol carefully placed Bella onto her bed and gave Keelin the space to check her over, quickly running to the bridge so see if that fucker of an Edward was still there, but he was long gone, the sun was coming up. When he returned, Keelin was done with her assessment and Freya was now magically checking Bella over, a small smile on her face. "Well?"

"Magically, she's clean. There are no blockages anymore, nothing to hold her back. She might have some issues with her abilities, they're far stronger than previously. She's a naturally gifted witch, very strong with her mental abilities, not sure if she's actually able to perform magic, seeing as that needs focus, and I can't see her doing that as she'll need her focus to control her abilities."

"Medically, she's also clean as a whistle. It's almost as if her episode released her from everything that was holding her back. However, she does have a severe concussion and that needs to heal."

"So I can give her my blood?"

Freya and Keelin looked at each other for a moment and then shrugged. "I can't see why not, it'll certainly save her from some pain when she wakes," Keelin said as she packed up her things. "Now, I can't actually medically check out your Cold One, but I do think that Freya should check her over to see if she's alright."

"Already on it," Freya smiled as she kissed Keelin. "Stay for breakfast?"

"Yeah, sure, I have about three hours before my shift starts," Keelin smiled at her. "Go check out the other one."

"Daddy?" Hope yawned as she walked into his bedroom, Myriam on his bed, still unconscious. "What was that big wave? I mean, it was a wave of nothingness, but what was that?"

Klaus smiled as his daughter and kissed her good morning. "Bella threw a little temper tantrum, that's all, sweetheart. Myriam was there to make sure nobody got hurt."

"But she's hurt," Hope said as she walked over to the Cold One. "Cold Ones don't sleep," she said as she carefully removed the temporary bandage on Myriam's arm. "And she's not healing. She's cracking like an egg."

"Is she?" Freya said as she walked in and rushed over to the vampire. "Yep," she confirmed what Hope had said before she started to magically check her over. "Her Cold One makeup has received a massive blow thanks to Bella going nuclear and Myriam's ability to deflect and absorb Bella's gift… did she know that doing just that was going to kill her?"

"Kill her?" Klaus blinked.

Freya nodded and sighed. "Apparently, Bella's - whatever that was, was strong enough to vibrate every single cell in Myriam's body. Just envision every single cell with the a major concussion and broken legs. They're not keeping her together anymore."

"There must be something you can do!" Klaus sounded desperate, for him _and_ for Bella. "She just found her sister, she can't die! What will that do to Bella?"

"I'm sorry, Niklaus… I don't know how we can help her…"

"I can," Hope said full of confidence. "I mean, _we_ can. Her shell might be cracking, but there's human skin underneath it, still. Almost as if she was never fully turned, or if she had a second skin or something," she said as she sat down on the bed and looked at Freya. "We can strip her from her being a Cold One."

"That will kill her."

"Yes, but if dad's fast and times it right, he can get his blood inside of Myriam and turn her into a normal vampire," Hope pointed out.

"Oh, like a thorough cleanse? Hope, that will take us a lot of magic, and I'm not even sure you should be knowing this kind of magic, kid."

"Do we even know she wants to stay around?" Klaus wondered out loud. "No offense, but it sure looked like she knew she was going to die when she helped Bella."

"Niklaus, everything that Myriam's done in the last few weeks is because of Bella. She wanted Bella to stay, to come back when she ran just now. She wants her sister. She needs her sister," Freya said as she was already scribbling down the spell they would need. "And surely, you'd love to spend some time with this firecracker as well. If she's a traditional, it should be easier for you to uh… make whoopie."

"Oh please," Hope huffed. "I know it's called sex. I'm ten, not stupid."

Freya snickered and nodded. "I know that, but your father might think you're too young to know these things."

"Aunt Caroline is giving us sexual education in school, informing us early so that we can be responsible when we do hit puberty," she said wisely.

"Aunt Caroline and I will have to sit down for a chat soon," Klaus murmured.

"But you should turn her, daddy. I like her. And I like Bella. They both deserve to live a better life, and and… you deserve some happiness too."

Klaus smiled then. "Why won't you get breakfast first, I'll have to think about this for a moment."

"You mean you have to call her father," Hope giggled as she walked out of the bedroom and headed downstairs. "Auntie Beks! Will you join me for breakfast?!"

"Are you sure it will work?" Klaus asked Freya, who only smiled at him for an answer. "So all you need is me to be fast enough with feeding her my blood."

"Yes, a small window during the spell," Freya replied. "I'll join Hope and Rebekah for breakfast, Keelin is staying too. Don't take too long to make up your mind, brother. We only have little time to ensure that she'll live."


	15. Chapter 15

" _What happened to my little girl?"_

Klaus sighed as he poured himself a drink as he watched Myriam on his bed, her venom seeping into the mattress. He was going to need to replace that. "She served her purpose in stopping Bella from going nuclear and killing people."

" _She's dead?"_

"Not quite," Klaus replied as he took a swig of his drink. "We can save her. Turn her into a traditional vampire, but I can't make my mind up. Does she want to be turned? She hated being a Cold One, I understood that much. However, as a traditional vampire she can have human food again, sit in the sun and not sparkle."

" _Plus, she would want to spend more time with her sister. Is Bella still alive?"_

"Yes."

" _Then what are you doubting for, Klaus? You always have your doubts when you want to turn someone you care about,"_ Peter said as he sighed. " _You had it with Marcel too, you told me. Let me tell you, Klaus. Yes, you've made mistakes in the past. Yes, you're an evil mastermind, a monster, but all in the name of love and preservation. Family. Myriam is my family. She's Bella's only family. Myriam deserves another chance, and so do you."_

"What if I ruin her?"

" _Well, then she has the choice to walk away and never look back. She's a strong, independent young woman that one. But you promised me you were going to keep her safe. I don't call this safe."_

"She saved a lot of people by absorbing Bella's power," Klaus snarled. "What would you have had me do? Allow Bella to destroy the waterfront, kill half of New Orleans? I'd have an extremely angry, and overly strengthened Cold One on my hands now!"

" _If you can save her, do that. It'll turn out alright. For everyone. She might need some additional help adjusting, just like Bella, but the girls will be fine. And I hope that Myriam will change her mind about forgiving me soon. I want to come and visit. See Bella for myself, do a pub crawl with you."_

"Alright."

" _And for God's sake, Klaus, take it easy on her. No doubt after what Jasper pulled, she's having some trust issues."_

"I know that. Bella had her spill the beans on her feelings towards me when she was making up her mind whether to go with Edward or to remain," he replied. "Who, by the way, is in or near the city. We're expecting to round them up in the next few days so that we can take care of them."

" _Good. Then get crackin' and save my daughter."_ Peter then disconnected, leaving Klaus waiting for Freya to return from breakfast while he watched Myriam's still body.

~o.O.o~

Bella woke up the next day. Kol had wanted to give her more of his blood, but it wouldn't speed up the process of her healing. "Why am I on the bed?" Bella muttered as she rubbed her eyes. Everything hurt, even her eyelashes. "What hap-"

 _Mushrooms. Wine. Spinach. Chicken breasts. Pasta. Cream cheese. That whore was fantastic. 10/10 would do her again. I've drunk too much…. Oh the wife's going to be pissed. Did I feed my budgies? The wheels on the bus go round and round. Fuck. Did I drop the baby off at the daycare or is he still in the car? Where's my dealer? Ooh eeh ooh ahh ahh ting tang walla walla bing bang._

With all the thoughts coming from seemingly everywhere came the emotions, and they were overwhelming, flooding her with everything and she couldn't focus. "No…" she whined as she pulled the pillow over her head, trying to drown out everything. She felt hungry, hot, drunk and something that made her feel even hotter at the same time. "It's gotten worse… I can't…"

"Freya is working on a trinket to help you cope, darling, but she can't help you specifically without you telling her how you work," Kol said softly as he gently caressed her hair as she writhed on the bed with the pillow covering her ears. "I do have something quite clunky that could help short term, but I can tell you from experience that they're not comfortable and my siblings will definitely make a remark or two…"

Bella let out a breath as she tried to focus and block everyone out. "Help." He fastened the anti-magic cuffs around her wrists and she let out a sigh of relief before pushing the pillow off of her and looked at her wrists. "Uhm."

"I told you, clunky," He laughed as he helped her sit up. "Welcome back, how are you feeling?"

"I like these!" Bella said as she looked at the cuffs. "I can't hear anyone! Or… feel what they're feeling! Well I can, but it's dulled and so much easier to be!" She hugged Kol tightly. "Oh, thank you so so much."

He liked this Bella. She almost seemed… normal. "Hungry?"

She nodded before sighing. "What happened? Is Myriam okay? I remember Edward and… he… he released me. He could have destroyed me. And the people in New Orleans! And… Myriam! She saved everyone, didn't she? Is she alright?"

"Yes," Kol laughed. "Myriam is alright, you can visit her later, when she's woken up herself and adjusted to her new situation."

"What did I do?"

"Like you said, you could have destroyed a fair part of the waterfront and a handful of people," he smiled at her. "But Myriam made sure that that didn't happen, you were testing her theoretical powers, right?"

Bella nodded. "Absorption and deflection…" she said and then continued to think. "Oh… it kept bouncing until she absorbed it all, didn't it? She got hurt, didn't she? How bad?"

She was better. Smarter. Sharper. "Not bad, don't worry about it, she just needs a bit longer to recover," Kol helped her off the bed. "You want to take a shower first? Get into some clean clothes?"

"Do I have to take these off?" Bella pouted as she rattled her shackles. "I'll have to, don't I? To get undressed."

"Yes."

"I'll do that after breakfast then," Bella sighed. "Not sure if I want to hear all of that in my head again. And do I really have to wait to see Myriam?"

"Yes, for your own safety," Kol said as he lead her out of her room to join the rest of the family, bar Klaus and Myriam, at the breakfast table. "Look who's awake!"

Rebekah quickly covered Hope's ears. "Kinky," she winked at Kol, referring to the shackles, before releasing Hope again and handed her another waffle. "Good morning, Bella, so good to see you back on your feet," Rebekah smiled at her. "You must be famished."

"So these work for you?" Freya asked after Bella sat down. "How well do they work for you? I already suspected that your powers would have become stronger, how bad is it?"

"Sister, allow Bella to eat something first, she just woke up," Kol let out a snort as he saw Bella trying to get something but the shackles were in the way. "These things are a pain, I know," he said. "What would you like?"

"Pancakes and some tea, please," she smiled at him before turning to Freya. "They work well enough. I can control what's remaining of the voices and feelings. And it's pretty bad, I don't want it. If I have to, I'll wear these shackles for the rest of my life."

"Surely with some practise you'll manage to handle your abilities," Freya assured her. "I should teach you some meditation techniques I use to strengthen my magic and the necklace I'm creating will help you with teaching you some control over it as well."

"Can you make it go away? Entirely?"

"No, it's a part of you. A true part of you that's infused within your DNA."

Bella scowled as she angrily bit off a piece of her pancake. "And why can't I go and see Myriam again?"

"She's going through some changes, and when she wakes up she might want to take a bite out of you, since you're now so deliciously human, it's best if you wait until she's used to her changes herself, or discovered her changes herself," Freya replied when her siblings didn't. Bella was inquisitive, there was no need to mince their words.

"But she's already a vampire, I don't see the big deal? Did I hurt her that bad?"

"No," Kol gently squeezed her arm to reassure her. "Your powerful abilities merely created some unforeseen side-effects and Nik and Freya had to get creative. Don't worry, Myriam's fine. I promise."

Bella sighed as she continued to eat after taking a sip of her tea, slowly nodding, resigning from pressing on about Myriam. As long as she was fine, it was okay, wasn't it? She was supposed to be grateful that the both of them were still around after what Bella was told to do, but the Cullens were still around and they were going to kill them all anyway.

Myriam trusted Klaus in keeping them safe, but she hadn't seen what Bella had saw, or heard what Bella had heard, the things that Edward envisioned were terrible. And they were still in New Orleans. Somewhere. Would Edward even know she'd survived her hard reset? She wanted to tell the Mikaelsons all about what she'd seen and heard, even with little Hope sitting at the table, but refrained from doing so. It already seemed that right now, Myriam was a priority to get back on her feet and they didn't seem to be worried about the Cold Ones, which meant that Bella shouldn't be worried.

But it did mean that she had to get herself under control as soon as possible so she could seek out Edward and locate him at all times. Because she did feel as if she had a wider area of effect with her abilities. She hated them because of the intrusion but also because people were mean and inconsiderate, but she could use it to keep an eye on the Cold Ones. All it needed was focus and the strength to push everything else aside.

She gratefully took a piece of toast from Kol that he had buttered with jam after her pancake was finished and wondered if it was even possible for her not to get overwhelmed by everything as soon as Kol would remove those shackles so that Bella could freshen up underneath the shower. Oh, Bella would definitely be overwhelmed. She needed to master her strength. Fast.

 _You did not wake up today to be mediocre. Y'all need Jesus. What if our phobias are what killed us in a previous life? One monkey, two monkeys, three monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell out and bumped his head. If anyone asks, I'm fine. I could do with a po-boy. Or chowder. What the hell is taking them so long for breakfast? Is this spell working or not? Shouldn't she have been awake by now? Oh sweetie, you're not ugly, society is. It was my worst nightmare; a house filled with creepy looking dolls and clowns. There's no way I'm going back in there, Aaron will be going back in. Fuck dolls. Fuck clowns. Weeee! Ghosts! For God's sake, why isn't she awake yet? Her sister is!_

Bella whimpered as she had managed to undress herself and crawled underneath the warm water. She had heard Klaus' voice in her head now, twice, or someone who definitely sounded like him. Why was his mind open? He was the one of the family who kept his mind closed at all times and he had a tough mind to get into. While the water cascaded down her back, she decided to try and focus. Focus on Klaus.

 _I can't believe I've already finished this book! I want to go to Korea. Goddamnit, King, you're doing it again! Lord, please save my soul… Come on, Freya… you're stalling. You just love stalling and making me freak out. Everybody was kung-fu fighting! I should not have made a joke about her insecurities… I should apologize. I look like a sack of potatoes. It shouldn't be taking this long, but at least she's breathing. Come on, don't make me go down there to come and get you. If this goes wrong, in any way, we'll have an angry adopted father on our hands and a Bella to console… not to mention I might have to kill someone. Myriam deserves to live._

Bella scrambled to her feet and reached for her towel before going into the den area of her room. "Kol! Myriam's worse than you're telling me she is! How could you lie to me!" She yelled as she tried to drown out the voices in her head. "Klaus thinks she's going to die! I will not have her die!"

"Inside voice, darling," he shushed her, wanting to put the shackles on her, but she pushed him away. She was dripping wet and her towel was only staying up because she was hugging it to her chest. "Myriam's fine. Nik has his healthy dose of anxiety and paranoia, but Myriam's fine. Don't believe everything you hear."

"His heart is aching, for Myriam! He truly likes her! And he's afraid! Let me go to him, and Myriam!"

He managed to get the shackles on and made her look at him. "Darling, Myriam's fine. I assure you. Don't listen to Nik because he's always thinking the worst about situations he can't control. The thoughts you hear may not be always the truth," he said kindly. "Now, I'm going to take these off again so you can finish your shower and get dressed. Stay out of Nik's head."

"Quieten your thoughts, brother," Freya muttered as she walked into his bedroom. They had changed the mattress and burned the other one after Myriam had stopped leaking venom. "Bella's quite upset."

"She can't get inside my head, I have it closed," Klaus fumed as he pointed at Myriam. "It's taking too long!"

Freya smiled then, crossing her arms over her chest. "Really? Your mind is closed? You should work harder to keep her out then because she's mentally quite the force to be reckoned with. Kol even had to put the anti-magic shackles on her to make sure she could form a coherent thought."

"Well, how convenient," Klaus shot at his sister. "Is she waking up? If not, when is she waking up?"

"Relax, Klaus, her body has gone through a lot of changes, it hasn't been easy on her, it could be another day, it could be another hour," Freya then cast a spell to see if Myriam was truly doing fine. "And she's fine. Go get yourself something to eat, relax."

"No."

"Very well, I shall bring you something instead," Freya sighed as she got up and left the bedroom, a content smile on her face.

Klaus kept pacing around the bed, his eyes firmly locked on Myriam's resting body and a few minutes later, she woke up with a loud gasp, sitting up and looking at Klaus, confused. "Welcome back, love," he greeted her as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"You've already asked me that," Myriam said confused as she blinked at him. "No, you didn't, I just woke up." She started to check herself over, surprised by seeing human skin. It felt like human skin, bouncy and there were hairs on them. "Okay, so the downside is that I'm not a human, but I'm a hybrid, like you?"

He blinked at her, not having said a word. "Are you alright, Myriam?"

"Yes, yes, you've already asked me that," she said, slightly annoyed.

"Because I haven't told you anything about your current condition yet."

"Freya and Hope did a spell and you turned me, you even asked Peter if you should turn me," she smiled at him then. "You're stupid, but thank you for saving my life. And yes, I should go to my room and take a shower or something. I don't burn in sunlight, do I? That's great! Oh, can I eat human food? Are there pancakes downstairs? Waffles? Cakes? Sandwiches?"

"You can use my shower, Myriam," he suggested. "Freya's returning shortly with some breakfast, and I'm sure she'll be more than delighted to get your clothes."

"Can we go to the store? I want cereal. Apple Jacks. And Hershey twizzlers," she said as she walked into Klaus' bathroom and stripped herself out of her clothes. "Oh, this looks so good… hi body! I missed you! Oh, rocky road ice cream! Oh… yes…" Myriam let out a moan as she turned on the shower.

"Of all the food in the world and the first thing you'd like to eat is cereal and junkfood?"

"Yes. Share it with Bella and see what she thinks of it," she stepped underneath the shower and loved the warm water on her skin, letting out a slight moan, she thought of something else. "Oh, and barbeque ribs. There's this great place in Texas. Peter knows where."

Myriam was like a whirlwind, and Klaus wasn't sure if he needed to be worried or amused. She was naked, in his shower, and he tried hard not to peek into it as the door had remained open. She was letting out these moans of pleasure, of joy and his dick was happy. He needed to calm himself, fast.

"I'm not going to give you a hand with that!" Myriam called out. "I appreciate that I can use your shower but I'm so not giving you a hand with that! Hi Freya!"

"Hi…" Freya said confused as she looked at her brother, then down a little and back up again. "What's going on?"

"Her brain is firing on all synapses, it seems. Did you miss anything during your magical assessments?"

Freya put down the tray of food and blood and scratched herself behind her ear. "Uhm… I could have? I don't know, I wasn't looking for magic, is there's something magical going on?"

"Let me save you the trouble," Myriam said from underneath the shower, slightly annoyed. "I can fucking see the future, and relevant parts of the past, so it seems. I didn't noticed it at first because I just woke up and all but my mind is making like spinny motions."

"That makes sense," Freya replied. "Seeing as a embryo and unborn child, you were being genetically manipulated with the DNA of a witch with precognition, correct?"

"Yeah, Alice. But after turning she could only see the future based on decisions other people made," Myriam replied, still loving the feeling of the hot water on her skin though. "It's hard to keep my thoughts linear, to slow everything down. And I don't want this shit. Give it to Bella."

Freya chuckled. "Trust me, she's having her own issues at the moment. I sincerely doubt she'd like to have your ability on top of hers. However, I could make you a little piece of jewelry that could help you focus more. Yoga and mediation would work wonders for you as well."

"Ugh, hippy shit."

"Hippy stuff that actually works," Freya let out a snort. "Then again, sex often does wonders as well. It's all about aligning your energy and focus. Orgasms are a fantastic way of doing that."

Myriam walked out of the bathroom with a towel around her and smirked. "Then I'm going to need a vibrator too. You smell great, Freya, wow… so intense… so… beautiful… delicious- yeah, I know," she said as she ducked from underneath Klaus' arms, making him fall flat on his face. "No nipping on the sisters, jeez! I've been a vampire before, you know!"

She picked up a glass of blood and knocked it back, before she immediately threw it back up, spitting it out. "Ow, ouch, that hurts! What's in this shit!"

"Nothing," Klaus said surprised as he took another glass and took a sip from it. "It's actually from one of our healthiest donors, delicious." He handed her his glass for her to try.

She reluctantly tried his glass and the same thing happened. "I can't even swallow this before my throat closes up, this is … not good."


	16. Chapter 16

"I'm a crappy vampire," Myriam muttered as she, now fully dressed, hugged Bella. "Blood is not good for me."

Bella was glad to see her sister not being a Cold One anymore, but she hated it that she had been the catalyst for that. From what she could pick up, Myriam was now a vampire hybrid with a werewolf side, like Klaus and Hope's mother Hayley. She then had a thought. "Have you tried mine?"

"Bella!"

"No, I'm serious," Bella said as she looked at her sister. "You helped _me_ with making sure I wouldn't hurt anyone, what if I can help you?"

"You're still a human," Myriam pouted. "And I had some human blood, it wasn't pretty."

"I'm sorry," Bella put her arms around her sister as well as she could with the shackles still around her wrists. "I wish there was anything I could do to help."

"Are you kidding me? You're helping me," Myriam smiled as she playfully tugged on Bella's shackles. "You and Kol already taking things to the next step? Kinky stuff?"

Bella opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when she didn't have an answer. Despite her being whole now, she wasn't quite sure what it still meant. However, since she mentioned Kol, Bella's grin grew wider. "Weren't you just sharing a shower with Klaus? He was very… _happy_."

"Bella!" Klaus scowled. "Now is not the time. Or place!"

"Something I said?" Bella said innocently as Rebekah started to laugh. Bella then grabbed a handful of strawberries from the table and handed one to Myriam. "You should be able to have human food now, I know you'd still need blood, but this should taste good."

Myriam sighed as she took a bite off her strawberry. "I already gave Freya a list of what I'd like, maybe you and I could go to Walmart together instead."

"Wearing these?" Bella let out a snort as she jingled her shackles.

"Why not?" Myriam shrugged as she sat down at the table. "So… has this happened before? A vampire not being able to have human blood?"

"Actually, yes," Klaus replied as he took a sip of his bourbon. "There was an incident, two incidents, actually, when it came to a young vampire called Damon Salvatore."

"Oh, that name sounds familiar," Myriam muttered. "Brother named Stefan. Screwed with them and screwed them both. Stupid fucks. Seriously need to work on their stamina and stop obsessing about the same girl. It was easy to fuck with them, all I needed to do was to change into the object of their affection and I could get my rocks off."

Oh, Klaus knew about Damon and Stefan, he had suspected as much when their names dropped only a few weeks earlier. Then again, his sister had had sex with Damon as well and Elijah was quite interested in the doppelganger… But he wanted to rip out their hearts for having had sex with Myriam. "Damon has a habit of when he sires vampires, that there's a sire bond between him and his vampire. There's still one of his accidents roaming the streets of New Orleans, counting bricks. But for a long time, Elena couldn't have anything but human blood as Damon had told her that animal blood wasn't good for her and that she shouldn't have it."

"You think she's sired to you?" Freya wondered. "I have found no evidence of that."

"Because it's not something you can magically detect, sister. It's all about trusting your sire and having an emotional bond with them," Elijah replied calmly. "Tell me, Niklaus, have you given Myriam an order yet to rule out this sire bond?"

"No, of course not," Klaus replied. "Because I haven't even told her that human blood is bad, I would never say such a thing. We need blood to survive, any kind of blood. There was a time when I was on the run from Mikael where I had to live off of rats, because there was nothing else available."

"Our father didn't drink from humans, either. By choice, but he could live off of vampires," Elijah added. "So that was an option."

"Speaking of Damon… he was once an Augustine vampire, wasn't he?" Kol piped up. "You told me that once, Elijah, when you were catching me up. To be honest, I wouldn't be too surprised if our good doctor Carlisle had a hand in that organisation and kept the virus to himself, not to share it with others. The virus in Damon and Elena were created much later."

"You don't think-"

"Keelin went over Myriam's DNA. There was something she couldn't identify," Freya added and nodded to Klaus. "Fork over some of your blood, let's see if Myriam can keep it inside." When Klaus wasn't budging, Freya kicked his shins. "It's just putting some of your blood inside a glass, you're not sharing anything in an _intimate_ way. Give me some or I will ask Elijah, Kol or Rebekah to donate."

Klaus scowled as he bit in his hand and looked at his siblings, a hint of warning in his eyes to stay away from Myriam. He poured some of his blood in an empty cup and handed it to Myriam. "There you go."

 _For the love of god, I hope this works. If it works, we'll have to figure something out because there is no way I'm letting -_

Bella shook her head, it was almost as if Klaus was sitting right next to her. She shouldn't be able to hear him so clearly, even with the shackles on. Klaus' mouth wasn't moving when she heard his words. She looked back at her shackles which seemed to be still intact for such an old pair of metal. Klaus felt possessive over Myriam, was that a good thing? Or incredibly bad? Did Bella need to speak up about this? Or let it go?

 _This is going to be a disaster if she becomes dependent on his blood and doesn't accept his interest._

Rebekah. Not too pleased when Myriam was taking a sip from Klaus' blood. Very protective over her brother. Bella looked at her shackles again, they were still in one piece. She then looked at her sister and was relieved when she was able to keep it down. "See? Not a crappy vampire, just marching to a different drum," she smiled widely. "Like me!"

Myriam smiled back at her, and slowly nodded. _Well, this is going to suck. Keep smiling, your sister is so proud of you. I really should give him a shot, he's trying really hard and he's doing everything he can to help us. No reason to it other than the goodness of his heart. Damnit. Fucker. Can't go on a fucking feeding spree now, unless I eat his vampires. Gross._

Klaus was relieved to see that Myriam took well to his blood. He was surprised to see Bella look at her as if she was something foreign and then a bright smile appeared on the girl's face. ' _Bella, sweetheart?'_ Bella's head snapped to Klaus, looking like the kid who got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. In turn, Klaus eyed her shackles. ' _Is everything okay there?'_

' _You have nothing to worry about,'_ Bella replied as she glanced at Myriam, finding it strange how natural talking inside her mind still felt. She then looked at Klaus, a slight panic flashing across her face. ' _But uhm… I shouldn't be able to do this with these on.'_

' _We have another set of those, but I wish to keep them in one piece in case we'd ever run into an unruly witch again.'_

Bella nodded slowly, understanding the conflicting thoughts in Klaus' head. These shackles were a blessing to her, a tool for them. He already ruled out Freya's new trinket, because that would break just as easily as the shackles, if not sooner, seeing as these shackles were created as a dark object by his brother. He was thinking about other options though, she took solace in that.

' _For now, I think you should discuss this with Kol. You seem to be able to follow a singular voice right now, you should focus on his. Perhaps that will make it easier for you to learn control. But you do need to accept this gift of yours, don't fight it, it'll make it easier when you simply accept that you can do this. Keep the shackles on, use them as a barrier for now, until they give up. You see the bad side of it, I see them too, mainly because you're intruding, but the good side of this is that you can help people. Help your sister. Help us when we're in trouble. You're a delicate presence, Bella, and not many telepathically gifted can say that.'_

Bella nodded again. ' _Thank you.'_ She then turned to Kol and gently tugged on his shirt. "We need to talk," she said softly and nodded towards her room.

"Okay," he helped her to her feet and put an arm around her as they walked back towards her room. "Is everything okay?"

"Not here," she smiled as they walked inside and closed the door. "Now we can talk," she said as she sat down at the table, her hands in her lap because the shackles made them heavy. She then put them on the table. "Do you see anything wrong with these shackles? I've been wearing them since this morning, only a few hours ago, after I took my shower."

He gently took her hand and pulled it closer to him before carefully checking the shackle over. "They're cracking, but how's that possible? These should be indestructible! I mean, even I couldn't get out of them, nor Finn!"

"I cracked a Cold One's skin to the point where she had to be turned into a regular vampire," Bella countered, a small smile on her face. "Must be something with the mental vibrations or something, I don't know, but I do know that they're not going to hold up for much longer. I can already get into Klaus' mind, and hold conversations with him."

"But he's the strongest of us all."

"I know, but I have been focussing on him because of Myriam. I needed to know she was alright, and she is. She will be," she sighed, shaking her head. "But I do need to focus on one singular thought and Klaus doesn't want it to be him. I don't want it to be him because he needs to focus on Myriam."

"His thoughts are a lot more in order than mine, Bella," Kol said, a little hesitant but understanding where she was coming from. "What if you hear or see something you don't like?"

"Depending on what it is, I'll ask you about it, I guess," Bella shrugged. "It's alright if you don't want to do this. I can ask Myriam. Or Freya, but I trust you."

"I'm not that big on trust, Bella…" he said, almost as if he was ashamed of himself.

"You don't trust me?"

"I don't trust _myself_ ," he replied, looking at her, trying to meet her eyes. "I don't trust myself. With you. You're…" Kol sighed then as he was still holding her hand. "You're quite something."

"I'm not broken anymore, Kol," she gently squeezed his hand. "You took some distance because I was broken and it's not right to have feelings for a broken person because they don't know what they're talking about or doing. But the main thing here is that I trust you. I trust you with me. I may have a few things to learn still but I understand now."

"But is it right, though?" Kol wondered as he looked at her.

"You've killed thousands of people. You've tried to kill your brother a handful of times and you have control issues. Your life hasn't been easy either, and you have come out strong. I trust you. With me."

"But Bella, I care more about you than I'm willing to admit, and I'm afraid that-"

"Like Klaus fancies Myriam?"

He let out a laugh then. "I'm not sure what his feelings for Myriam are at this point, but if they're very positive… then yes."

Bella blushed furiously. "I'd like that, though, I've never had someone care for me that deeply."

"It's relationship stuff. You know… kissing, touching…"

"Sex?" Bella asked hopeful.

"So you do know about it all! Were you playing it down, all your knowledge?" He laughed. "You minx."

"No, but I learn fast, and I've seen enough minds to know what it's like for others, and how beautiful it can be when it's with the right person. Klaus and Myriam, for example, have so much potential to be something so beautiful," she squeezed his hand again. "And I think, that if we give it some time, we can be too. On top of that, your thoughts are safe with me. I am discreet, it'll between you and me, but I do need you for that. To anchor me."

Oh, she was brilliant. And brave. And insane. But it was a good thing that she didn't dismiss him, that she understood where he was coming from. He didn't need to trust himself with her, she trusted him with her. It was enlightening, to say the least. "Alright darling, I'm giving you permission to shift your focus from Klaus to me."

"Thank you," Bella let out a sigh of relief as she let go of Klaus and looked for Kol's voice. "I need to find you… and focus."

 _It's not possible for Wolverine to get circumcised. Why is Chewbacca's name Chewbacca when he can't do anything but roar? Where's that fucking ferris wheel? Plain flour… nutella… I still have baking powder… Bella, how can you find me? Nothing's actually on fire, fire is on things. Let's put fire on that car tonight. It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A. Bella, did you find me yet? You know when you came out the bathroom this morning, in a panic, and wearing nothing but that towel…_

"Kol!" she laughed, shaking her head at the mental image she received and looked at him. "That's…"

"Not wrong," he winked at her. "So you found me?"

Bella nodded and she put her free hand on top of his as he wanted to remove her shackles. "Not yet. Just let them break… I have a bit of control now, it's okay. Maybe when it breaks I won't have it that terrible… I know how to control the way that I had it."

"But if you broke through Nik's defenses, and you're breaking these things…"

"I can't hurt people anymore," she assured him. "I don't know why this is happening, why it's become stronger after what happened, but my best guess is that Edward removed every safety precaution with his command."

"And also any restriction to you as a person," he reminded her. "I like that. Getting to know the real you."

"Nothing different, just a better version," she replied as she squeezed his hand again. "Free."

"Well, you and I have learned a lot of things just now, what are we going to do next?"

"Talk some more? It distracts me."

He got to his feet and lifted her up, bringing her over to the sofa and sat her down before sitting down himself, putting an arm around her and pulled her closer. "Yes, but let's be more comfortable while we talk, in all honesty, those chairs need replacing. Something softer."

Bella relaxed into him and put her head against his shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with those chairs, but this is better, yes," she let out a breath. "I don't have my shield anymore, I tried putting it up but it's not there anymore."

"That's alright, darling, we'll protect you. I'll protect you."

"But you didn't see what Edward wanted to do. It was… a massacre, everyone was dead, and Myriam was mutilated, there wasn't anything recognizable left. And he was so… cold. Angry. Vicious."

"I don't need to see what Edward wanted to do, it's what we've done for a very long time when we were in Europe. Whenever someone wronged us, or when we felt we were wronged, we went on a rampage," Kol told her. "I can get where he's coming from. You cost them a lot of money, then Nik went on a rampage, Myriam went on a rampage… the Cullens were taken a peg or two down. No doubt the Volturi are breathing down their necks. I'm not saying that what the Cullens, and the Cold Ones in general, are doing is right. Because it's not. But I do understand. And still, we're going to kill them all. And should the Volturi come, or that newborn army, we're going to kill those too. Because their actions, their hobbies, are not right, and the both of you need to get some revenge, too."

"Save the children."

"Save the children, indeed," Kol agreed. "Something you started, yes?"

Bella sighed. "I may have started it but with Jasper's duality and backstabbing, I doubt if I ever truly saved a child. They may have just transferred it to a different facility, come to think of it."

"But your intentions were the right one, Bella, you can still help people, just differently now. In a different capacity, with your heart, and perhaps even with your gift. I know, I know, you hate what you can do, and I understand. But you know, darling? It's magic. And all magic is fun. You can have so much fun with your gift, I promise."

"Reading someone's thoughts and feelings isn't fun."

"Unless you do it to fuck with their heads," Kol winked at her. "Like tease Nik or your sister. Give it some time."

"Everything needs some time," Bella sighed as she relaxed some more in his arms. "But Marcel's vampires are keeping a better eye out now?"

"There are more vampires now, Marcel and Nik called in some favors. Don't worry, Bella, you're safe, I don't know how many times I have to tell you, but I will continue to tell you that you're safe. Allow us to worry about your and your sister's safety, you and Myriam now need to work on healing and learning how to deal with your new, or stronger, abilities," he kissed the top of her head. "You're not thinking of leaving again, are you?"

"Are you?"

"Only if you come with me."

"Only if we're taking Myriam with us."

Kol groaned. "But that means we'll have to bring Nik too!"

Bella laughed. "So no leaving then?"


	17. Chapter 17

The next couple of weeks were quite something, a rollercoaster ride, if you will. It wasn't as if the sisters weren't trying, but their instability made them all wonder if saving them had been the best option. Maybe they both weren't trying hard enough, but it was frustrating for all.

Bella's shackles broke by day two after waking up. When she was able to focus on one voice at the time, Kol's, she was doing fine, but when you gave her something else to do that required her attention, she got distracted. While Freya's idea of meditation had been a good one, Bella simply couldn't meditate and shut off all the voices. She barely slept and Kol had to mentally knock her out a few times to make sure she got at least some rest, but it wasn't easy. On top of that, she still wasn't up to speed to all the nuances in feelings and emotions, and Kol had wondered if he should give her a crash course by allowing her inside his mind to show her all of them, because over the years that he has lived, he had felt them all.

Kol wanted to turn Bella, perhaps her magic would go away, but everyone else thought it was a bad idea because Myriam regained her magic upon becoming a traditional tribrid. She was moody, even worse than normal, she had a hard time focussing on the present as she kept slipping into the future. Not by much, but enough to drive her insane. Meditation worked, a little. Myriam had a lot of anger inside of her, still, and she was stronger than a normal hybrid, but easier to make her relax now that her neck could be snapped.

Klaus was against that, of course, but only when the safety of others was in jeopardy, he'd snap her neck. Usually causing Bella to go off at him, Myriam didn't deserve to get her neck snapped. Myriam had been surprised by the power of her magic. She once had the entire compound shake when casting a spell when angry, enough so that the city of New Orleans believed that there was a small earthquake going on in Bourbon Street. Everything was brute force with Myriam, even her magic.

But, when they were able to function normally, everything was alright. Bella would keep apologizing and get out of everyone's way. Myriam made no excuses, only that she was a crappy creature. Bella and Myriam often talked about leaving together, knowing that the Mikaelsons didn't deserve them like this. They needed to be better, and not falling apart. However, Bella had become really smitten by Kol and she didn't want to leave him. In turn, Myriam admitted that she, too, had become infatuated with Klaus. He wasn't Jasper. Klaus didn't remind her of anyone in her past.

But still, both girls hated it that they couldn't be stable for longer than a day, or two. They cooperated with anything the Mikaelsons came up with to try and stabilize them, but nothing truly stuck. Life was hell, and Bella could feel that everyone was getting fed up with them. Patience was wearing thin.

It was one of their off days, but they managed to get the kitchen all to themselves, Myriam was going to teach Bella how to bake all the things. Myriam had always liked baking as a distraction and it was time the girls took their rehabilitation into their own hands, no matter how messy things were going to get.

"We really need to get ourselves under control," Myriam said as she slammed one of the kitchen cabinets closed. "Because this is getting out of control. We've had them try everything, it didn't work. Surely there's something we could do?"

Bella was sitting on the kitchen island and watched her sister grab everything she needed to start baking. The kitchen staff had been sent away for a couple of hours and the kitchen was basically a no-go zone. So far, Bella was doing 'all right'. She at least remembered to use her indoor voice while communicating. "What did that cabinet ever do to you?" _Row row row your boat…_

"Sorry," Myriam muttered as she closed another cabinet after grabbing a bowl or two. "No, I know you're right, but still… this is getting annoying. I feel like a fucking newborn all over again and even then it didn't take me this long to adjust."

 _Eggs. Flour. Caster sugar. Butter. Bacon. Eggs. Sausages. Baby you light up my world like nobody else. Fucking asshole. I wish I could fire his ass! Can animals commit suicide?_

"Yeah, and I know that, Bella. It's fucking frustrating, that's all," Myriam said as she continued making the batter of her cake. "And I know, I _know_ that there's something brewing between you and Kol, and between myself and Klaus, but isn't it better for all of us if we'd just go back to Texas? To Peter and Charlotte? At least until we've figured this out?"

Bella blinked as she realized what was going on. "Slow down, Myr, you're having a discussion with me that I'm not a part of yet."

"Sorry, but you understand, right?"

"I do," Bella nodded. "And I'm reluctantly agreeing with you." _If I turn myself in, do I get to keep the reward money? I mean, 50k is very nice! My pc isn't working! Oh, I don't know, have you tried turning it on and off again? Seriously, how hard is it? It could slide right in. Sticky, oh, so sticky. I should apologize to her._ "However, can't we take them with us?"

"The whole point is to relieve them from us," Myriam pointed out as she turned on the oven to preheat it.

"True, but what's the point in leaving? Doesn't that mean that we're giving up? We should stay and fight. Keep trying. There must be a solution somewhere even though it seems like we've tried everything already. If there's one thing that we have in common is that we're not quitters. We'll just have to avoid them more when we're not fully functional," Bella said quickly, in one breath as she focused, hard. _Everybody, rock your body, Backstreet's back, alright!_ "We could call Peter, maybe he knows something."

"No, he's on his way anyway…" Myriam then realized what she had said and lost all color in her face. "Oh fuck, this isn't going to end well, at all. We should warn Klaus."

Bella pointed at the carton of eggs that Myriam had been holding, all eggs now crushed and dripping on the floor.

"Oh fucker!" Myriam threw the carton of broken eggs into the sink and started to clean up her mess. "This is so not fucking fair! How can you remain so calm, Bella? Fucking Peter is coming. We're a fucking mess, we're creating more messes and we're already in a fucking mess because of the stupid Cullens!"

"Because I've done panicking and it's not working," Bella replied as a matter of factly, still trying so hard to find Kol's voice again, his presence. His emotions. "But that doesn't mean that there's no fight in me left. We should go over everything we've learned and come up with again and try harder."

"Fuck that, it doesn't work," Myriam said angrily as she was still mopping up the eggs. "We've tried our best, I certainly wasn't slacking."

"And maybe the real issue here is that we both need to learn how to relax properly. We're both on edge all the time. We can't relax, even a bath isn't relaxing. Snapping your neck doesn't work for you, and well, if my neck gets snapped, I'm dead."

Myriam then thought for a moment and then a big grin appeared on her face. "There's one thing we haven't tried yet."

Curious, Bella slipped into her sister's mind. Myriam was easy to find, and also easy to tune out. What she saw in Myriam's mind was… disturbing, but not? "I'm not going to use my troubles as an excuse to have sex, Myriam, but you can do that with Klaus and tell me how you got on," she said encouragingly. She could feel her sister's anger, her disappointment and her despair, but also her cheeky side. But when she was with Bella, it was a lot less intense than when they were with others.

"Now?"

Bella shrugged as she hopped off the kitchen island to grab Myriam new eggs. "Or bake first, bake Klaus a cake with 'Let's Get Lucky' written on it with icing. But I think he's holding back, he might turn you down, as he might feel he's not worthy of that trust yet."

"Sex is sex," Myriam shrugged. "I can do it with Klaus."

"Not if he feels as strongly as he does. He truly adores you, Myr. He won't allow you to have meaningless sex with him, he wants the true thing for you. Intimacy, trust, love."

Myriam huffed as she thought of her sister's words. "Well, then you'll just have to do it first then."

"Sex with Klaus?"

"No, you dummy," Myriam rolled her eyes at her sister. "With Kol."

"But we've just barely started to explore touching and stuff. Besides, he's too frustrated with me because I can't hear him at times when he's talking," Bella replied as she put the eggs on the counter and sat back down.

"Fine, then I'm going to ask Rebekah to buy us vibrators so we can help ourselves to relax and get a fucking good orgasm," Myriam said as a matter of factly as she dusted some flour over Bella's head and started to laugh. "Dusted!"

Bella reached for the bag of flour and grabbed a handful before throwing it against Myriam, a smile on her face. "I already know you're going to win this, you're a vampire with vamp speed."

"It's all about the fun!" Myriam grinned as she grabbed an egg and cracked it open over Bella's head. "Come on, shorty, do your worst! Get moving. Don't let me get you with food, but try to hit me with food!"

Bella hopped off the counter again and ducked while she headed to the fridge and grabbed some tomatoes. Squeezing one first, she aimed at Myriam and Myriam allowed her to hit her because she wasn't even moving out of the way.

"Yes! That's what I mean! Come on, more! With feeling!" Myriam used her speed to get into the fridge herself and found some cold mashed potato. Grabbing a handful, she made a potato ball out of it and threw it at Bella's back. "You're hit!"

Soon enough, they were using every throwable food item in the kitchen to throw at each other, running around the kitchen, screaming, laughing, making a complete mess out of the formerly spotless kitchen and not paying attention to anything or anyone.

It was only when the kitchen staff returned that they briefly stopped in their tracks and pointed and laughed at each other, both covered in all food possible and the cook looked less amused because they had cleaned out every cabinet and the fridges. There was pasta sauce on the ceiling, the cabinets were covered in food and drinks and the whole kitchen looked like a warzone with two giggling sisters slap bang in the middle of it.

The cook angrily went to get the boss, and when Klaus came to check the damage, he was impressed by the mess the girls had made. Except how could he be angry with them when they both looked so elated? He hadn't seen them this relaxed in quite some time. "Did you go through all the food, ladies? Or is there more to play with?"

"No, all done!" the girls chorused, causing them to start laughing again.

"Then may I suggest you clean yourselves up so that Chef and his people can get this kitchen back in working order?"

Bella giggled as she moved passed Klaus to exit the kitchen, he was careful to avoid the food dripping girl before eyeing Myriam, who was standing on top of the counter now, with a stupid grin on her face, and he got slightly worried. She hopped off the counter and rushed to him, hugging him tightly, rubbing slightly against him so he'd be covered in food too. Myriam then let go of him and used her speed to go to her room, passing Bella as she did. "I'm faster!"

"How rude!" Bella called after her before bumping into Kol. "Oh, sorry," she giggled as she tried to wipe off the flour and tomato sauce off his shirt, but only made it worse with her dirty hands. "I need to clean myself up."

She looked cute. He wanted to pick her up and give her a bath and give her a proper rub down, everything. "My shirt," he pouted as he looked down instead, and pulled his shirt off. "Ah, I hated that one anyway."

Bella started to blush furiously as she saw the images inside his mind and quickly ran to her room to get undressed and take a shower. It was getting harder to ignore _those_ thoughts he had about her, but she appreciated it that he was being patient in that department too. But she wasn't worthy of that level of kindness, not with the way she was now.

She froze when he joined her underneath the shower then, still dressed in his pants and socks, his feelings for her overwhelming her and she was wondering if she was putting these feelings inside his mind, because his behaviour was kinda funny, unlike him. "Relax, darling," he assured her. "I'm merely here to help you get clean…"

"I'm naked."

"That you are," he replied as he grabbed a washcloth and put some soap on it.

Bella let out a breath and shook her head. "No, Kol, not like this. Your feelings… they're… no. Baby steps. You promised. Please. No," she put her hand against his bare chest to push him away.

"This is baby steps, Bella, I'm not asking for more."

"I'm naked."

"I've touched your naked skin before, underneath your shirt, now you're completely naked and you shouldn't be ashamed of what you look like, Bella, because you're gorgeous," he said as he stepped outside the water. "Yes, my thoughts may demand more, but I'm true to my word. You need help cleaning that muck out of your hair." He then started to remove his pants, but kept his boxers on. He removed his wet socks and stepped back in. "I've evened out the playing field, better? We're both naked now."

Bella was silent as she kept her head bowed slightly, lips pursed as she was absorbing the emotions and situation. "No we're not," she blinked, still feeling uneasy but slightly more accepting of his explanation.

"You're not ready for that, darling," he chuckled, shaking his head before grabbing the washcloth again and started to gently clean her skin. "But you're gorgeous, you shouldn't hide it. You're so gorgeous it hurts."

Bella shook her head as she didn't dare look at him. His overwhelming feelings ebbing away a little, making room for the baby step versions of his feelings.

"You know, in the beginning… before all this, I was so frustrated with myself, because I fell so hard for you, and I couldn't do anything with it because you didn't understand. I was furious with you for being who you are, but you couldn't help it. It was wrong for me to feel the way I did then, but now… I'm not ashamed, Bella."

"Your attraction to me is only physical?"

"No, not at all," he smiled at her as he lifted her chin, lightly brushing the cloth across her chest, trying to calm his excitement for touching her breasts through a wash cloth. "You're gorgeous on the inside, that hasn't changed, it was the first thing that I noticed about you. Even after you were allowed to be free, oh, Bella," he sighed happily. "Is there a more powerful way to say that you're beautiful, gorgeous?" Kol thought for a moment. "You're like a goddess to me. I want to worship you the way that you should be worshipped."

"This is baby steps?"

"This is baby steps for experts," he let out a breath as he soaped up her arms. "But I'm glad you're feeling better than you did a couple of hours ago."

"Me too," she said softly as she allowed him to continue to touch her, to clean her up. It felt great, her skin was reacting to his touch and this time she couldn't hide the goosebumps that were on her arms. "For a moment there I thought I was putting things in your head…"

"We've established that you won't, or can't," he assured her. "This is all me, and maybe I did come on a little bit too strong just now, but Bella, I wouldn't have done this when I wasn't sure that you weren't ready for this."

"You overheard me and Myriam talk," she concluded, narrowing her eyes on him. "It's rude to eavesdrop."

"Ha! Says the mind reader who can't keep her gift under wraps because it's too powerful!" Kol barked out a laugh. "You little hypocrite," he said teasingly. "Of course Nik and I listened in, we know all about your plans of wanting to run away. Let me tell you. Nik and I aren't going to let you go. Period. Because you're right, quitting is not an option. We're fighters." He got rid of the cloth and grabbed the shower head to rinse her down, before starting on her hair. Perhaps he should have started with her hair first, now he'd have to wash her body again after this! Oh, but he didn't mind at all. "And until then, we just have to live for the little moments like this, when you're able to hold a proper conversation and enjoy life instead being burdened by everything else."

He had a point about eavesdropping, but it wasn't as if she could help it. In fact, she found it strange that the little control that she had had previously, wasn't working in the current situation. But she was also glad to hear that he wasn't willing to give up on her, either. "Sorry for -"

"Not hearing it," he said as he had managed to get almost everything out of her hair and started to put the shampoo on her hair. "We vampires are fickle with our emotions. But I truly don't want you to go. We have a very bright future ahead."

"Until I'm too old and you'll trade me in for a younger model."

He was unsure what to say about that, because that was true. Bella didn't want to be a vampire and turning her could have disastrous implications for her gift as they could be enhanced like they were with Myriam, all thanks to those meddling Cullens. "Never," he eventually said, although his vanity was cursing him to bits now. She'd be old and wrinkly, he'd still have his handsome face. Bella was worth it. Oh, she was so worth it.


	18. Chapter 18

It was nice to spend the rest of the day clean and in a great state of mind, bonding more with Kol while Myriam and Klaus did the same. Just talking. Everything positive, nothing negative and not having to worry about anything. Bella had eventually fallen asleep in Kol's arms, both fully dressed, on the bed and she had her first real good sleep in a very long time.

However, she was roused from her sleep early the next morning when her brain went slightly haywire again. She heard the people outside in the background, singing songs in their heads, cursing that they were going to be late for work, fussing over financials and whatnot, but what was really in the front were the thoughts and emotions of the two people upstairs in the compound having some _fun_.

Bella moaned slightly before squirming a little against Kol, moving her ass against his groin area as he spooned her. He was still asleep, she knew this, and she had to get this under control before she'd start to feel incredibly perverted. He needed to wake up so he could take presence in her mind. The imagery from Klaus, seeing Myriam as a beautiful canvas he could paint the most extraordinary scenery on, the raw emotion from Myriam, fully having opened herself up for his attentions and enjoying his touch, aroused Bella.

With Kol still sleeping, Bella rolled out of bed and started to undress herself as she started to hum quietly to try and get Klaus and Myriam out of her head, she even tried to focus on the people outside, but Klaus and Myriam were a force, alone and together. Completely naked, Bella went into the bathroom, plugged the bath and started to fill it up with cold water. Her skin felt as if it was on fire, pleasantly, and that was all because of her sister.

She couldn't wait any longer and got into the bath to cool herself off. Letting out a small cry of agony as her feet touched the water, she kept lowering herself down into it. She was used to being hosed down with cold water, this was merely a bath. A cold bath. Of course, her yelp had woken Kol and he was next to her within a blink of an eye. "Are you alright?"

Bella nodded as she shivered in the cold water, looking for his voice inside her mind. "Talk to me, please, I-" She let out a breath, and another moan. "This is so fucked up." In the last few weeks she had picked up on other people having sex down the street, but it hadn't been this intense. Was it Klaus and Myriam's closeness or their mental strength that made this happen?

He raised an eyebrow as he squatted down next to the bath. Bella was fully naked in a bath with clear water, she wasn't even using bath oil for her bath. He then felt the water and blinked. It was cold. "Bad day?"

"No, not at all… just bad start… but not for others." She was cold, her teeth were chattering and this really needed to end soon or she'd be cold for the rest of the day.

He listened out for any sounds that were out of the ordinary and immediately spotted some heavy panting and moans coming out of Nik's room. He was glad for his brother finally getting what he wanted, but worried for Bella's sanity at this point. "You're not picking up what I think you're picking up, are you?"

Bella winced as she slowly nodded and met his eyes. "I couldn't turn them off, but now that you're awake it gets better."

"That's my brother and your sister you're actually… Bella, that's fucked up."

"Duh! I can't help it!" She whined before she finally managed to latch on to Kol's thoughts, which wasn't actually much better at the moment, as he was enjoying her naked body perhaps a little too much. "Get out, I'm going to get dressed… and find someone else whose mind I can use to help me."

"What!" Kol objected as he looked at her. "I can't help it! I told you! You're gorgeous!"

"And not helping right now!" Bella shot at him as she unplugged the bath and got out of it. She grabbed a towel to quickly dry herself before picking up her clothes and getting dressed again. "I'm trying to stop feeling the way that I do and you're making it worse."

"Then we should forget about baby steps," Kol suggested. "Let's have sex."

Bella opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when she didn't know what to say. Pulling her hair back in a hair tie, she finally managed to come up with something. "I'd like to have that experience when I'm not feeling the experience from anyone else and when I'm certain that I'm feeling what I'm feeling and not what anyone else in my presence is feeling, I hope that makes sense."

Oh, it did. Not that it was fair, but it made sense. Kol sighed and nodded. "Very well, but I doubt you'll find a more suitable mind as your anchor in my family. Freya's had her issues with our aunt Dahlia, Rebekah is still reeling from the curse she had a few years ago and Elijah… well. He'll be hesitant because you'll be able to see his true self, which is more psychotic than Nik is."

She stopped then, turning to Kol and cocking her head. "What do you mean?"

"Elijah's great at pretending everything is alright. Everything he's ever done is tucked away in his mind, making him forget about it all, sometimes surfacing. He's actually suffering the most from being a vampire than the rest of us. Mother recognized that and she taught him to put it all behind a red door. And let me tell you, it's not pretty once that door opens," Kol explained, taking a step closer to her. "He's finally somewhat coming to terms with it, but his mind is not one you'd like to be using as your anchor, no matter how stable Elijah might seem. Your best bet is either Niklaus or myself."

"My sister's pretty loud."

"And unstable," Kol let out a snort. "No offense, darling, but at least I'm managing my impulses right now, your sister, on a bad day, does not."

Bella stumbled then, as a dizzy spell hit her. It usually happened when she felt Myriam's emotions and heard her thoughts, as her brain worked so fast, slipping into the past, present and future, sometimes all at once. Bella usually made sure she was seated for the experience, because it was such a rush. "Oh," she said as she took hold of Kol's arm, as he caught her before she fell. "Oh… uhm…" she gasped then, feeling an orgasm coming up from her toes all the way up through her body. "You need to stop them. Please."

"If I do that, I'll be dead," Kol laughed as he helped her to sit down. "Focus on my thoughts, I'll be good."

She let out another gasp as she stumbled. "Oh, no, that's so not fair, she's… future and… present, Kol!"

' _I told you to focus on my thoughts.'_

His insistence, the willpower behind it made her flick up her eyes to him. He sounded like someone she'd definitely wanted to roll over for. Do anything for. She wanted to feel his hands on her body again, making her feel as good as Myriam was currently feeling. His eyes darkened as they were firmly set on hers.

' _You're going to keep on listening to me until I'm sure that they're done. No more talking. You're going to keep listening to me. Focus. Have I made myself clear?'_ Oh, her breath hitched. She was loving this as much as he was. Seriously, fuck those baby steps.

"Yes sir…" she whispered, clinging on to him for dear life.

' _Now, Bella, that sounded great to my ears. Say that again.'_ He was sure she was doing it out of submissiveness, not out of a programmed response. Kol was loving it. Had he known that she was this responsive to his commanding voice, he would have tried it on her a long time ago.

"Yes sir…" she whispered, a small smile then appearing on her face. "Yes sir."

He softly kissed her lips as he got her back to her feet. ' _Good girl, come, let's have breakfast.'_

' _What!'_ A slight look of panic washed over her face.

' _We're going to do something extremely ordinary to keep your mind focused. And that's having breakfast. No talking. Just eating. I'll talk to my siblings when I have to. You focus and eat.'_ He took her hand and took her out to the courtyard where the staff had just finished setting up breakfast, shooting uneasy glances towards Bella, who, with her sister, had ruined the kitchen the day previously. Kol didn't care. She and her sister could ruin the kitchen whenever they wanted, if it made them as stable as they had seemed after their fun yesterday. "Good morning!" Kol greeted his siblings as he helped Bella sit down and sat down himself.

"'Good' morning," Freya muttered as she took a sip of her coffee. "Far too early to be rudely awaken by what's going on up there," she glaring up to the second floor. Her quarters were right next to that of her brother and Kol was glad he had always opted to get a room on the ground floor.

"I think it's a good morning," Kol agreed with himself as he took his glass of blood and took a sip while Bella stuck to grabbing a few waffles and a few strawberries. "And I don't think you should complain, sister, there have been plenty of times that you and Keelin have interrupted our perfect quiet nights."

"Yeah, but this is Klaus we're talking about," she said in a hushed voice.

"Believe me, sister, this is nothing compared to what we've all already experienced when it comes to Niklaus and his girlfriends," Elijah spoke as he buttered a piece of toast, unfazed by the sounds coming from his brother's bedroom.

Bella quietly ate her waffle when she got hit by another dizzy spell. Her sister was having trouble focussing, and Bella got a glimpse of the future. Blinking, she was unsure what it meant, there was this Cold One standing in the middle of the courtyard, looking angrily towards Klaus' study.

"Oh fuck!" Myriam exclaimed loudly. "Daddy's home!"

"If she's going to yell that every single time she reaches a climax, I'll be forever put off from the phrase 'who's your daddy'?" Rebekah muttered, shaking her head.

"Come on, Klaus…" Myriam's voice sounded. ' _Hurry up already. Hurry, please hurry. Oh god, yes, that's the right spot… hurry… oh, so close…'_ "Fuck, fuck fuck… he's not happy…" ' _So close!'_

' _Bella. Focus.'_ Kol had noticed she was drifting off again. She had that look on her face that she was trying to understand something she was seeing in other minds, and her cheeks were flushed. It didn't take a genius to understand that she got pulled back in. ' _Tell me what just happened.'_

' _Cold One in the courtyard. Not happy… must be a future thing because Myriam's not too happy about it.'_ Bella shuddered as she was grateful to have grasped Kol's voice again like a lifeboat. She then let out a yelp when that Cold One she'd seen in Myriam's head ran into the courtyard and threw off his protective robe.

Rebekah and Elijah rose to their feet, quick to stand with the Cold One so he wouldn't be able to get in further, and Freya was ready to use her magic on him, too. "You have nothing to fear," the Cold One spoke as the sun hit his skin through the leaves of the trees. He then nodded towards the bedroom. "He has. Klaus! Get off my daughter, _right now_!"

"He's not on me right now!" Myriam called out, heavily panting. "I'm on him, but he's getting me off!"

"Oh good lord," Elijah tiredly pinched the bridge of his nose as he returned to his seat. "I believe we have the pleasure of having Myriam's father in our midst."

"Myriam Hope Jenkins, you better get off of your boyfriend, don't make me come up there!"

"Five more minutes!"

Peter then moved to the second floor walkway and forcibly knocked on the door. "You're not getting any more minutes because your sister is in her own personal hell right now thanks to the both of you!"

Upon hearing that, Rebekah, Freya and Elijah looked at Bella who suddenly felt really small. "Why didn't you say anything?" Freya wondered.

"Because she hears that all the time, Freya," Kol replied for Bella, feeling the need to defend her, and knowing that what he was going to say next wasn't any news for his siblings, but it didn't hurt to remind them. "But the more powerful minds are, the more intrusive and loud they get. Of course, then there are the days that she simply doesn't have the focus, which are the days when her sister is having a bad day, too. Or, in this case, a particularly good one, which is overwhelming Bella. She's having a hard time with regular thoughts, imagine hearing and seeing the thoughts of someone who doesn't have control over her own premonition gifts?"

"She'll fucking live!" Myriam eventually said, a moan escaping her lips. This hadn't been the first time Peter would have walked in on her while having sex, but it sure was going to be his last if he wasn't careful.

"Love, maybe-"

"Stop now and I'll make you regret it," she warned him. "I saw six, and you've only given me five so far."

"And the future always changes," Peter said as he kicked in the door. "Up. Now. You've had your fun, it's time we're going to fix this shit for once and for all. I've given you guys weeks to figure it out for yourself, but I'm worried about your sanity, or what's left of it. Jesus fuck, you guys know how to party!"

"Peter!" Klaus growled, and in an instant, Peter was flying through the air, off the balcony and landed safely on two feet in the courtyard, right next to Bella, a big smile on his face.

"Well, they'll be down soon," he said as he ruffled Bella's hair. "Nice to finally meet you, Bella, my name is Peter and I've been raising your sister."

Bella ducked away from his hand and tried to get a feel of him, but she wasn't able to get anything. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. She still didn't like Cold Ones. Her sister had been an exception at the time, but she didn't know this man. Only that he took care of Myriam and that he had abilities of his own. But if it was true what he said, that he knew how to fix her and Myriam, she was willing to listen.

' _Eat your waffles, Bella,'_ Kol's voice sounded less forceful now now that his brother had stopped shagging his girlfriend, but Bella liked hearing his voice inside her head nonetheless. Sighing happily, she nodded and continued to eat. "She's a little bit shy."

Peter raised an eyebrow as he looked at Kol. "After you've basically commanded her to stay focused on your voice, yes, I can imagine. She's just about to roll over for you to scratch her belly."

Kol huffed, not going to make excuses. "It works."

"I'm not denying that," Peter said as he looked up to see his daughter and his friend emerge from the bedroom, all cleaned up and everything, Klaus having a slight look of embarrassment on his face. Oh, Klaus thought he was the big bad wolf, but Myriam was definitely worse and she was going to corrupt him even further. This was a fact, Peter had no doubt about that. "Sit," he said disapprovingly, pointing at the two empty chairs.

"Seriously, _dad_?" Myriam retorted as she sat down and grabbed herself a pancake. She was famished. "I still don't want to see you, you know."

"Tough, princess," Peter said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm here for your own good. As I said, y'all have been barking up the wrong tree since Bella's reset button was pushed and you became a traditional vampire. Looks good on you, by the way, darlin'."

"And you couldn't say this over the phone?"

"Would you have answered if I called?" Peter retorted, already knowing the answer. "In any case, before minds are lost, again, let me ask you a few questions, Mikaelson family," he said as he turned to Kol. "What are Myriam and Bella?"

"Sisters," Kol replied as a matter of factly.

"Be more specific," Peter glared at him. "You can use the word _twins_ , you know, because that's what they are. Twins. They were both genetically altered by the good doctor, they both were in the same womb, being cosy neighbors while Carlisle played some more with them as they grew into babies." Peter then looked at Freya. "To what purpose were they created?"

"To satisfy the Cullen's perverse idea of gifted children and strengthen their empire? Money?" She questioned, then shrugged. "For shits and giggles? Because they could?"

"You and your doctor girlfriend checked over the list that I provided, yes? What was done to the girls in the womb?"

"We have."

"Didn't you notice something strange about their DNA?"

"Of course, but all the abnormalities resolved after Myriam managed to shield the rest of the world from Bella when she got triggered by Edward," Freya replied, still not seeing what the Cold One was aiming for. "Bella changed back to her clean, human self, and we had to reboot Myriam and turned her into a vampire/werewolf hybrid, well, tribrid. She has magic inside of her."

"Did you check their DNA after they changed?"

Freya blinked then. They hadn't. "We didn't think it was necessary, why?"

"If you had given their DNA the last once over to truly make sure that they were healthy and well balanced, you could have saved yourselves a lot of trouble," Peter said with a smug smirk on his face, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Oh, he was so clever. "And let's not even think of the mental component that comes with these extraordinary girls."

* * *

 **A/N: Only 7 more chapters left to post!**

 **Starting May 1st, I'll start posting a new story called Underground Railroad, which will be a Twilight/Teen Wolf crossover with the pairing Bella/Isaac. Check my website out for more details!**


	19. Chapter 19

Upon seeing the dumbfounded looks on the faces of everyone gathered around the table, Peter sighed and held up his hands. "Imagine these hands representing Bella and Myriam. They're twins. Despite the two very different lives they have lead up until Bella's arrival here, they were always like this," he interlocked his fingers. "Twins have this rare connection, that's scientifically proven by actual humans, by the way. With Carlisle's treatment of their embryos, the bond only strengthened. Myriam was the one who could avoid all of Bella's powers, including her shield ability. Perhaps not her mental intrusion, but all the physical attacks or abilities, yes. She was created as a safety, incase Bella wouldn't be able to be controlled. Bella, in her own special way, was created as a counterbalance for Myriam. To even out the anger, the strength, Myriam would possess."

It was a lightbulb moment for Freya. "Of course!" She exclaimed before slapping her forehead with her flat hand. "How could we have missed this? It's the simplest explanation and the simplest solution!"

"To be fair, you've missed this because you're used to things being extremely complicated," Peter had a flat expression on his face, hating it that he had to force feed them the information that had already been available to them.

"With Bella reverting back to being a human, all of her meddled DNA changed back to the way it was in the womb, no years long messing with the body and mind, just the 9 months of manipulation," Freya started to explain to her siblings, being rather excited about it. "The same happened to Myriam, Bella shattered her Cold One physique, her DNA had already been altered by turning into a Cold One in the first place, but Bella shattered her shell. We had to use magic to save Myriam and make her our kind of vampire. She became a tribrid instead, so everything is out of whack for their so-called Twin connection. The problem here is that Bella is still human and out of sync with her sister, she lost her balance."

"Please explain Myriam's new connection, Freya," Peter leaned against the table as he stood next to the witch, at least someone had a brain around this place. "It'll also explain her instability and additional mood swings."

Freya then blinked at him. "Sorry?"

Forget his earlier compliment on the woman. No brains. Sighing, Peter retrieved a stake from his inside pocket and drove it through Myriam's heart.

"NO! Are you insane!?" Klaus bellowed as he threw Peter away and pulled Myriam into his arms, unsure of how to hold her for fear of her falling apart to his touch. "Why would you kill the girl you claim to be your daughter?!"

Peter dusted himself off and sauntered back, taking his time as he whistled a tune he always had stuck in his head, saying nothing.

"Five…" Bella said softly, unsure where that need came from. "Four… Three… Two…"

Kol eyed Bella curiously before blinking in recognition, drawing in a breath. Standing in surprise, he glanced at Elijah and Rebekah who shared equal bewilderment as they too turned to watch Klaus and Myriam. Their brother was not paying attention to them, too distraught by the incapacitated girl in his arms to understand what truly had been done by the spell. "Nik…" Kol warned.

When Bella reached zero, Myriam's eyes fluttered before she angrily pulled the stake out of her heart and threw it at Peter, who expertly caught it. "Fucker!" she yelled at him. "How dare you scare me like that!" She got to her feet and pushed Klaus off of her before she set herself off with her feet and launched herself at Peter. She was going to rip his head off.

Peter, of course, caught his daughter and pulled her hands behind her back as he twisted her around. "None of that, kitten," he told her before looking at the Mikaelsons. "Your little spell has not only linked Myriam to Klaus, but also to his daughter, seeing as you lot thought it was a brilliant idea to use her blood to stabilize the transformation. Nothing wrong with that, I'm grateful that you've made my daughter invincible like yourself, but the connection is wrong. So, now you know. There's a wrong connection for Myriam and no connection for Bella, how are you going to fix that?"

Myriam was connected to Hope. That explained why Hope was having so many temper tantrums and drove her mother up the wall, as even leaving New Orleans didn't work. "We need to remove the connection to Hope," Klaus said determined.

"Do that, and your spell will lose merit and Myriam will die. I'm sorry, but that spell of yours made your life a lot harder," Peter said as he released his angry daughter. "The connection doesn't hurt your daughter's life. If anything, it makes her feel like a normal teenager. Teenagers are supposed to rage and rage and rage, drive their parents batty. No, the solution is to make Bella immortal and re-establish the connection with her sister."

"Turning Bella is not an option, we've already established that. Her gifts have the potential to become worse, as it has happened with Myriam," Kol said as he put his arms around Bella. "On top of that, she really doesn't want to be a vampire."

"She doesn't have to be," Freya realized, but there was hesitation in her voice. "There is a solution, but it's not something to be taken lightly. I can re-establish her link with Myriam with no problem, I'll even link her to Hope to give her a sense of balance, but the solution to her immortality is something… I had to endure… and Klaus knows exactly what I'm talking about, although he volunteered and I never did."

"Dahlia's spell," Klaus replied as he put his arms around Myriam after Peter had released her. "But that will endanger anyone who's linked to her. Kill her, kill the person who she's linked with."

"Not with a few adjustments, I'm well aware that it's different in this case as Bella's a human, but I think I can make it work so that she'll become as indestructible as you and Myriam are. Without her having to turn. It'll take me a few days to figure it out, but I can do it. As long as you have Hope here, or at least her blood that I can use to link Bella to Hope too."

"No," Bella shook her head. "No. No more messing with magic or making new connections. Just…"

"If we only link you to Myriam, Bella, you'll get the full brunt of Myriam's connection to Klaus. You think this morning was bad? Imagine being a third wheel in everything they do," Freya explained.

"Then don't. I'll die eventually and Myriam will be fine."

Klaus could feel Myriam tense up and kept his arms around her. "Excuse us," he said politely as he directed Myriam towards her room, taking her out of the situation that had the potential to get really dangerous.

"Myriam doesn't want you to die, Bella," Rebekah said, also slightly hurt by Bella's remark. "And neither do I. Nor Kol. Nor Freya or Nik. You're a part of our family, we're not letting you go."

"I know that!" Bella said angrily. "But I'm fucking done with magic. With longevity. What guarantee is there that things will stabilize for me? I can imagine it will work wonders on Myriam, but I can't see that happening for me. I fucking hate hearing everyone, every thought, feel everything. I don't even know what my own feelings are most of the time and whatever I try, I can't control it, so please, can you guarantee that everything that you're proposing will actually fix this?!"

Kol was surprised by the firecracker in his arms, Bella didn't do anger, but it was rolling off of her as if she was going to box fifty rounds against a puff of smoke. He understood where she was coming from, though. Everything.

"Can you?" Bella looked at Peter. "Since you know everything and shit, can you guarantee this? Because frankly, no matter how much I enjoy being around the family, it might be actually better to take me out of the whole equation, making life a lot easier for everyone."

Peter eyed her, nodding after a moment. "If you are bonded to Myriam and Kol at the very least, yes. I don't see the need for Klaus' kid as you'd be connected to her through your sister. It's a clean circle of blood that you all would be bound by that you shouldn't need any aging spell either since traces of Myriam's original Cold One change does remain within her and you'd also be linked to that. That is the only thing I can't promise but your witch here can mix something up later."

"To Kol? We can't do that to him!"

"I think you should ask him if he's willing to for you. You really shouldn't take choices away from others if they want to do for you," he scolded her. "After all, you just told your sister you wanted to die and leave her behind without consideration of her feelings," he added the final on his way to go check on the girl and hybrid.

"Let's do it," Kol said, slightly hurt by Bella thinking he wouldn't want her to be linked to him. If anything, he would be very happy because he wouldn't lose her. When Bella looked at him, with fire in her eyes, he returned the look. "I know you feel like you're cursed, especially now your gifts have amplified, but please stop wanting to die. It's not the way out. You're going to stay and fight. Remember your conversation with Myriam yesterday? You stay and you fight. Freya is going to link you to Myriam and to me, and you're going to stay and fight. And there'll be no discussion. I'm taking the choice away from you. You're not fit to make choices at this point," he said sternly before pointing at Myriam's room. "And you're going to apologize to your sister."

Bella kept looking at him, not moving at all.

' _Now,'_ Kol commanded, making her snap out of whatever she was feeling and raging about in her head, causing her to blink and slowly nod. She turned around and walked to Myriam's room and Kol was right behind her. ' _You're going to tell her you're sorry and that you were scared, that's all.'_

Bella gingerly knocked on the door, and flinched when the door swung open, revealing Klaus. "Now's not the time," he told her. "Unless you do want to be dead, because your sister is about to kill you herself."

"I only wanted to tell her how sorry I am and that I acted out of fear," Bella said, barely a whisper. All of her anger gone, but it had been replaced by grief, sadness and fear. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"I know," Klaus said gently as he looked over her to meet eyes with his brother. "However, words were said and repeated, and she's currently not able to talk to you rationally. I am certain that once Myriam is able to, you two could have a supervised chat. For now, Kol's going to tell Freya to go ahead with the preparation of the spells."

Kol sighed. Of course. It only made sense. He and his siblings had hurt Klaus enough over the years, badly enough for their angry brother to hunt them down and try to kill them. Or box them for a very long time. He'd been on the receiving end of Klaus' wrath for a lot of times, and if Myriam had reached this point, it was best to keep the human away from her sister. And it was certainly a story he needed to tell Bella. "Bella and I are going to have a good chat," Kol told his brother. "She still doesn't realize how certain words can sting or rip figurative hearts out and I have all the stories."

Klaus nodded to his brother before looking at Bella again. "Don't worry, sweetheart, your sister still loves you, she cares for you deeply. Only right now… she's blinded by her pain."

"I'm sorry," she said again as she stumbled back against Kol as a wave of anger hit her, punching her in the gut. Myriam was hurt. Angry, but mostly hurt and fearful. Because of Bella. Klaus felt the same but less intense and the same feeling came off of Kol. When Klaus closed the door, she looked up at Kol. "Maybe you should be alone too?"

"Oh no," Kol said as he took her hand and crossed the courtyard as he picked up a glass of blood. "You and I are going to have a chat, no matter how much it'll hurt. Perhaps Rebekah could join us to tell her side of things?" He asked as he looked at his sister.

"Therapy time, joy," she remarked before looking at Freya, who nodded and went upstairs, straight to work. Rebekah reluctantly joined Bella and Kol in Bella's room for story time. All Rebekah wanted was to have Bella stop wanting to kill herself, it has been an issue for quite some time, and it was cowardly. She could understand Bella, as Bella likely felt there was no other way out, but there always was and there would always be.

Kol sat Bella down on the sofa and sat down next to her, Rebekah choose the chair opposite of them. "Now, you understand things better when you can actually see and feel things inside your mind, so how about both Beks and I open up about the parts we want to learn you about and you can ask questions instead?"

"You also said you found it hard to distinguish your own feelings from that of others," Rebekah said calmly, crossing her legs over each other as she relaxed in her chair. "It's easier to do that when you've experienced the full scope of emotions and feelings. And between me and Kol, you'll get a crash course. You'll also learn about the many times we've angered Nik up to the point of him wanting to kill us, just like your sister wants to do right now, and the reasons why."

"Let's tell you what it means to be a family and all the feelings involved when you're a part of this one," Kol smiled at Bella as he reassuringly squeezed her leg. "Go on then, find us."

It wasn't hard to find both Kol and Rebekah's thoughts and feelings that belonged to what they were showing her. Family. Love. Always and Forever. Betrayal. Backstabbing. Klaus on a power kick. Klaus allowing fear to rule his anger. Kol and Rebekah allowed fear to do horrible things to ensure Klaus would go down. Then there were times where Klaus used his siblings against each other. Various Christmas balls, parties. Daggers in chests. But there were also good times where they lived harmoniously, until something would set someone off and it'd start all over again. An angry Klaus was a scary Klaus, Bella had figured as much as she hadn't liked him in the beginning, but to see his anger in Kol and Rebekah's minds, was horrifying. Much like Myriam was like now. Wanting to kill her own sibling for something she'd said and it didn't sit well.

Bella saw a lot of similarities with the Cullens, though. Always bickering, not happy with each other's actions, sabotaging… but the main difference is that the loyalty felt different. The Cullens were loyal out of sheer fear, the Mikaelsons actually felt love for each other, no matter the difficulties they were going through. They were always coming back together.

Things were different now, as Rebekah and Kol showed Bella progress to where they were now as a family. They had learned from the past, mended fences and actually liked being together. Klaus knew not to take everything literally and all the siblings had found their own little place in the world, and in their family. They actually lived harmoniously now, waiting for the next thing to blow all their good feelings to smithereens and ruin their lives again.

Bella still couldn't get past the fact that they had all been so awful to each other, out of fear, out of anger. It was alright now, but she didn't want this to happen between her and Myriam. Especially if Bella was going to be immortal for the sake of her sister, then this shouldn't happen between them. She didn't want it to happen.

If it would make Myriam feel better if Bella would become immortal and stick around, then Bella was going to do so. Cursed or not. Because Myriam had sacrificed herself to find and fight for Bella. It was the least Bella could do and she'd been such an ungrateful brat by being selfish.

She was sobbing by the time Rebekah closed her mind and Kol took it a little bit further by making Bella feel everything he felt for her. She was reeling of all the emotions and impressions, not sure if this was a punishment or if Kol and Rebekah were trying to make it clear to her that this is something normal between sibings, to love and hate each other. That there was no black and white, perhaps only in Bella's case, who only _disliked_ things when she should get angry about things.

Myriam was angry with Bella because Bella didn't want to live eternally with her curse, which was selfish. It was only correct that Myriam was angry and that she wanted to kill Bella. But it wasn't pure hate, merely out of love. And how Bella's words had stung, so hurt. Bella had been a bad sister. She was going to do better.

Kol put his arms around her and pulled Bella in his lap. "It's alright, darling," he said soothingly. "This is what family is all about."

"To kill each other?"

"Try to, at least," he grinned. "At times. Especially as you've lived as long as we have. She truly loves you, Bella, she doesn't want to be alone, much like you don't want to be alone. You're going to have to try harder. Fight harder. And watch your words a little, because words can hurt as much as physical attacks."

She was still sobbing in his arms, no doubt she was still feeling everything and trying to deal with it all. "And I meant what I said, Bella, I want you with me forever. If Freya's spell can link you and I together, and you with your sister, then we'll get everything we need. We get you. And we get the both of you in balance," he continued, softly caressing her back as he looked at Rebekah, who was simply smiling. "And you'll continue to learn. You'll make mistakes, but you will always know that you have a family. Not simply with your sister, but with us. You're a Mikaelson. Always and forever."


	20. Chapter 20

It had been a couple of days after Freya brought balance back into the sisters and bound Bella to Kol. Fortunately, Peter wasn't around to prove that it worked, no doubt Bella would be traumatized by the experience of getting a stake through the heart. They had to wait with the spells until Myriam was somewhat calmed down, and Bella was making sure that her sister was fine, that she had everything she needed because she didn't want them to become like the Cullens or like the Mikaelsons of the past.

Myriam had found her mental control quite easily after the bonding, and it had taken a day or two for Bella to truly master her abilities. She didn't need to listen for Kol anymore to remain grounded, but just in case, she had made a slight connection of her own to his mind. He didn't even realize it was there.

For Myriam it had been such a relief that she could stay in the present with her mind, and only using her abilities at will. Before the connection between her and her sister had been restored, she felt as if she was losing grip of reality at some point. And her relationship with Klaus was so much healthier now. She could truly focus on him, enjoy him in all of who he was, without her sister getting affected. Yes, another plus to all of this was that she was having Bella around for forever and her sister wouldn't accidentally intrude on the private moments.

Bella was glad to be rid of the intrusive thoughts from the streets. The earworm songs. The random thoughts that didn't make sense. She could still hear them, but she'd have to want it. And she didn't want it. It wasn't so bad now, Bella could actually function normally, something she hadn't been able to do for so long, not even when she was with the Cullens. She was a normal human being who had control over her mental abilities that she previously saw as a curse. It was strange to have her mind to herself, and only have her own voice in it, but it was a blessing. Her own emotions, however, were strange. Foreign. For the first time, she could identify them properly and they weren't making sense most of the time. Or did they?

It was hard to get a read on people when she didn't actually read them. What were they thinking? How were they feeling? Would they still think Bella was stupid for asking questions or did they find her annoying? Did she have to get out of their way? With her mental abilities under control, she realized her social skills were severely lacking, and with everything going so well at the moment, she didn't want to bother anyone. She usually sat in her room or in the courtyard, drawing. That way she didn't have to be social much.

Bella loved her sister, but she was scared of her too. Bella was scared to do something wrong _again_ and have her sister freak out again. Bella was also slightly afraid of Klaus, mainly because of her initial assessment when she first met him, but also due to Kol and Rebekah's experiences with him. Elijah was a mystery to her, she didn't know what to think of him. And then there was Kol.

Whenever she was around him, she could feel her heart beat faster. Her skin warming up. Whenever he touched her, her skin tingled in all the right places. Kissing him was an amazing experience. Whenever Kol spoke, she felt butterflies in her stomach and he made her giggle by merely saying random stuff that didn't make sense. Being with him was _easy_ and comfortable, but she also knew that she couldn't hog him, because now that things had calmed down for the sisters, the focus was back on the Cold Ones and protecting the family.

Bella and Myriam were part of the family now. Bella had learned through Kol and Rebekah that despite the long history the family had of fights, anger, fear and trust issues, that they fought together for a common goal. To protect the family, no matter the costs. And Bella knew that she and Myriam would do the same, if their heart wouldn't be ruled by fear.

It was a nice Saturday morning when Bella awoke because she felt something on her bed, Kol wasn't there, he hadn't been sleeping and had left her alone, so she wondered what it was. Blinking, she was surprised to find a fox on her bed, looking at her in fear for a moment after getting caught, before burrowing itself underneath the blankets and making itself comfortable.

There weren't any foxes in New Orleans, at least not that Bella knew of. She ducked underneath the covers and carefully felt around for the fox, curious if she was dreaming or if it was still there and she was surprised that it was - and surprisingly friendly, too. The fox sighed and touched Bella's hand with its nose and Bella snickered, before making herself comfortable underneath the blankets too. "Okay, I'll play," she said softly before yawning. "You can share my bed with me, but only if I can draw you later, deal?"

The fox let out a noise that resembled a snort and crawled closer to Bella.

Something told Bella that this wasn't an ordinary fox. "Did someone turn you into a fox, little fox?" She whispered. "A witch, maybe? There's a witch here that could turn you back?" Bella then thought for a moment. If this wasn't an ordinary fox, would she be able to pick up their thoughts? "Who are you?" she wondered as she tried to get into the animal's mind.

' _Fucking finally. Now shut up, don't let them find me.'_

"Myriam?" Bella said surprised. She knew that her sister could turn into other people, but into animals? "What happened? Are you okay?" There was a bit of fear behind Myriam's thoughts and that worried Bella. She pulled her sister closer. "Did you get hurt?"

' _Shhh!'_

' _Right, sorry.'_

' _I hid in the basement for hours before I felt brave enough to run to you, please stay with me here. I'm not hurt.'_

Her sister was too scared still to talk about it and Bella nodded as she made herself more comfortable underneath the blankets, careful not to squish her sister. ' _If you do want to talk about it…'_

' _No.'_

' _Okay,'_ Bella sighed as she closed her eyes again, only to be awakened by Kol poking her in the back. "I'm awake."

"Lovely little fortress you have there, can I join?" Kol quipped as he watched Bella emerge from underneath the blankets, carefully as not to move the blankets. "You haven't seen Myriam by chance, have you?"

"No, I haven't seen Myriam," Bella said truthfully as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "What's going on?"

Kol sighed as he sat down on the bed. "Remember I told you about Elijah? How he looks as if he's the most stable vampire out of all of us but isn't?"

"Bigger monster than you and Klaus combined," Bella nodded.

"He gets these night terrors. Sometimes it cracks open that red door of his and those terrors get worse. He starts sleepwalking. And guess who was awake last night during one of his episodes?"

"Oh, no," Bella said as she crawled into his lap. "He didn't hurt her, did he?"

"I think that she hadn't expected him to be the way that he was, it took Nik and myself to get our brother away from her and it was then that she vanished," Kol tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear as he gazed into her eyes. "Nik is beside himself, can you… maybe… you know, look for her in your own special way? We found a heap of her clothes in the dungeons, Nik suspects she's turned into a wolf and ran out."

"Are you sure? Myriam seems not like the type to get scared easily, seeing as she went after Cold Ones and all…" Bella replied, as she pretended to think about his request.

"Elijah can be scarier, trust me," Kol let out a slight snort. "Mother did a real number on him and he's still reeling from it after all those years. In all honesty, Elijah is sorry for his actions and wishes to apologize to Myriam and if Nik doesn't find her soon, he might go on a murderous rampage."

"I'll see what I can do… but I'd rather not use my abilities to find her," she said as she climbed off of him, still sensing Myriam underneath her covers as she hadn't moved. "Let me get dressed, I'll come help look for her in a few minutes."

Kol eyed his girlfriend, curiously. "You're not worried, why aren't you worried?"

"Because Myriam is a big girl and she can totally get herself out of trouble," Bella said confidently. "I'm sure she's fine, but I'll come look for her. Let me get dressed first."

"What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," Bella smiled at him as she got off the bed and started to get dressed. "I'll be right out, I promise," she said as she pulled him off the bed and kissed him before directing him towards the door.

"Bella, what-"

She closed the door on him and quickly got dressed before grabbing a robe and peeked underneath her covers. "If you allow Elijah to apologize to him, you can make the rest of his day miserable as revenge. I don't know, pee on his bed."

' _Already done and I can't believe you thought of that.'_

Bella shrugged as she grabbed her sister and rolled her into the robe, cradling her like a baby. "You've been like this for hours and you've never told anyone you can be an animal now?"

' _I think I'm stuck,'_ Myriam said as she wiggled around in the robe, but Bella made sure she had nowhere to go. ' _As in, I can't turn back.'_

"Sure you can," Bella said encouragingly as she scratched her sister behind her ear. "You're ridiculously cute like this."

' _I am not cute!'_ Myriam huffed.

Bella opened the door to the courtyard and grinned. "I would love to keep you as a pet, you're house trained, you're quiet, you're cute…" She said as she scratched her sister behind her ear again. "Look at those ears!"

Klaus looked at Bella as she came out of her room carrying some sort of package, and was being all lovey dovey with it. "Bella, your sister is missing, now is not the time to play with a rodent!" he said slightly annoyed. He thought she was better, but this was insanity. Had she truly wrapped up some creature in her robe as if it was something precious?

Bella looked at him before narrowing her eyes on Elijah. "Ever thought about having one of your siblings locking your door from the outside? Oh, never mind, you're a vampire, you'd burst through it anyway," she said before looking back at the fox in her arms, still scratching behind her ears. "Could someone snap his neck please? He's scaring this cutie."

Kol scratched himself behind the head as he looked at his girlfriend. Had she truly lost all of her marbles during the night? "Bella…"

Bella blinked at him, before looking at the fox. "You're right, they think I'm insane," she let out a snort as she unwrapped the fox. "I didn't find Myriam, she found me, look."

"Don't be ridiculous," Klaus huffed as he crossed the space between them and took the fox out of Bella's hands, holding it by the scruff of its neck. "You don't get to see foxes that often in New Orleans, at least not in the city, but-" he then blinked when Myriam's scent was all around the fox. "This is Myriam?" The fox hissed and snapped at him, trying to scratch him as she wasn't comfortable at all.

Bella nodded. "She's been like that for hours, she says. And she doesn't know how to get back to her normal self, although I think she secretly likes being a fox. Oh, and she definitely does not like to be held like that so you'd better be gentle," she said as she took Myriam back and held her like you'd hold a cat. "Like this," she said before handing her sister back to the hybrid.

"Why didn't she change into a wolf, she's a hybrid, isn't she?" Kol wondered. "I mean, I think I understand why she changed into a fox, but… she's a werewolf!"

Bella shrugged as she put her arms around his waist. "To use your own words; magic is fickle? She was able to transform into humans when she was a Cold One, maybe she retained that ability but now is only capable of turning into an animal because of her werewolf side?"

Kol opened his mouth to say something before closing it again immediately before he found the right words. "That's… actually a pretty decent theory!"

"I am not stupid, you know," Bella countered, slightly hurt before looking at Klaus. "I think you should take her up to your room and talk to her about Elijah," she said as she pointed at the person in question, who still didn't have his neck snapped. "Myriam still wants his neck snapped."

"She can do that herself when she's back to her normal self" Klaus said as he blinked when the fox - Myriam - nestled herself against his neck. "Enjoy your breakfast, Myriam and I will return shortly."

She looked up at Kol before letting go of him and took a seat at the table. "I know you can't do anything about your problems, Elijah, and I'm the last one to judge, but you scared my sister pretty bad, and she doesn't scare easily. If I were strong enough, I would have punched you."

"Duly noted, Miss Bella," Elijah replied with a sigh as he sat down. "I am getting better, it's merely a slow process."

"I'm not the one you should talk to about that," Bella reminded him as she pulled a stack of pancakes onto her plate. "But don't scare my sister again, please."

Kol smirked as he sat down next to her. "Maybe we should see if your mind reading abilities can be used to hurt people, as a defense mechanism, seeing as you don't have your shield anymore."

Bella nearly choked on her pancake as she looked at him. "Are you crazy? I'm _happy_ that while I have this inconvenient ability to read minds, I'm not capable of hurting people anymore!"

Elijah took a deep breath. "As much as it pains me to say this, but Kol is right. I know you understand the troubles of having some mental issues, Bella, but your misdeeds while under duress are nothing compared to what I can do when I'm not in control. Your sister has her way of escaping. She can even protect herself. You, while now immortal, won't be able to protect yourself from me and I could seriously hurt you."

"I'm not going to try and hurt people."

"You have a lot of control now, you don't have to be afraid that you won't be able to control yourself," Kol said encouragingly.

"You don't get it," Bella said as she rolled up a pancake and got to her feet. "I don't want to hurt people even if that means I get hurt. I'm nothing like my sister. I wasn't made to be strong or agile or good with weapons. I-I don't have magic, I can't be a vampire. I don't want to hurt people with my brain."

"You don't have to," Freya said as she came onto the courtyard and pushed Bella back down in her seat before sitting down herself. "I've been looking into mindreaders, the real ones, like you. You can communicate with others inside your own brain, or in theirs, what if you can force them to go to sleep? You won't be hurting them and you've already proven that your ability can get through the strongest of barriers. Yes, it's still manipulation, but you won't hurt them. Think about it, because in our family, you're going to need at least something to protect yourself with. Against one of us, or our enemies."

"No," Bella said, shaking her head. "That would make me as bad as Jasper. He could control others through their emotions, make their emotion less or different."

"Seriously, stop being a goody-two-shoes. You're an extraordinary telempath. Mental Manipulation is a sub-power of telepathy. You previously used it as your shield, and to 'accidentally' scramble people's brains, but your shield is no longer functional, so why not find a different way to use it? Play tricks on someone else's mind. Like… put them to sleep. Or if someone is scaring you, get inside their mind and scare them back. It's a good defense mechanism. It's a little like compulsion in vampires, really. You'll be able to have this superpower without having to turn!"

"And, who knows?" Kol smiled at her. "You might be able to help Elijah to close that blasted Red Door of his for once and for all, use it for good."

"Because you're holding back, Bella," Freya smiled at her. "I know you are, and that's alright, you're afraid, but you don't have to be."

Oh, she had promised to be a good sport and not to say 'no' anymore, because the people around her knew better. She needed to trust that they knew better than she did because otherwise there would be fighting and Bella didn't want that. She wouldn't be complaining anymore. And she just had been. "Okay," Bella said softly as she took a nibble of her pancake. "But I doubt I'll get it working before the Cold Ones arrive."

"That's alright, darling," Kol smiled and moved in to kiss her on her cheek. "We can still protect you, but it'd be good for you to be able to protect yourself, too."

Bella nodded as she took a sip of her tea. They had faith in her. It was time she had some faith in herself, too.


	21. Chapter 21

While Myriam tried her best to master her ability to turn into animals instead of humans, Bella was trying hard to be as good as her sister, as fast as her sister, in trying to make her brain work the way Kol and Freya had suggested, but all that she could do by the end of the week was to make someone laugh really long. It was a start, but it was discouraging to see her sister seemingly having less issues with her transformations. Bella didn't show her disappointment in herself, because her sister was doing great and Bella did everything she could to support her.

Bella was drawing in the courtyard one evening and decided to let her mind wander wherever it wanted to be, to loosen her grip on herself a little, because she was sure it would help the next day when she'd practice again. It was then when she heard Edward. And Alice. And Emmett. And a lot of other voices she hadn't heard in years.

They were close, did the Mikaelsons know that they were close? Kol, Klaus and Elijah weren't at the compound, Freya was out with Keelin and Rebekah was having fun in town, it was just her and Myriam now, and Bella felt her heart beat faster in her chest. Heavier. Thumping.

The voices sounded frantic, their emotions were all over the place and Bella wasn't sure what they were doing. "Myriam!" she called out, not daring to move, afraid that one little noise would upset the balance or something, but why had she called out to her sister then? She ran to the front gate and locked it before running back to the courtyard, wondering where her sister was. "Myr!"

"I'm here!" Myriam said as she walked out of Klaus' study, drying her hair. "Bella, they'll be back, you have nothing to worry about. Nothing to fear."

"Do you know where they went?" Bella questioned her sister, somewhat impatiently. Her eyes firmly trained on her as she walked down the stairs.

"Yeah, some meeting or something, I don't know, wasn't sure why Kol had to come with, but my guess is that there are witches involved, what's up?" Her sister's heart was beating like a maniac, why was she so scared?

"The Cullens _and_ the Volturi guard are close," Bella said as she pulled her sister down the remaining steps, only to pull her underneath the staircase in hiding. "What do we do? If we call Klaus or Kol, will they be back in time? We can't take on all the Cullens and the guard by ourselves!"

Myriam swatted her sister's hands away as she looked into the future, and she didn't like what she was seeing. It was going to be a disaster with just the two of them, because no matter how fast the Mikaelsons would get here after the phone call, the Cullens and the guard were closer and faster. The vampires keeping watch were going to get killed first, as the Cullens would search the property, and they would eventually find the two girls and Myriam couldn't take care of them all. They'd be badly hurt and taken as death was off the table for the both of them now. Myriam let out a breath. The future could be changed. "We'll be fine. We can hold them off for quite some time until they show up," she said as she shot a message through text to Klaus and pulled Bella with her to the center of the courtyard. "We're not going to hide, we're going to stand and fight. You and me. Deal?"

"But…"

"You and me," Myriam insisted, making sure Bella stayed right next to her. They'd have the element of surprise, because she was pretty sure that they believed Bella was dead after Edward gave her the reset command. Although he hadn't returned to actually check to make sure Bella was dead. Maybe they believed Bella was nothing but a dribbling mess by now. "You do your best worst when you're scared. I have no doubt that you'll be able to put them all down with zero effort once you see them."

She winced when she heard some crashing coming from upstairs and her gaze shot to the gate when it got kicked open by Emmett. They were truly coming for her, and she and Myriam could not take them all. Well, Myriam couldn't take them all. They'd take them both and there was no saying what they'd do to them now that they both had the eternal life. She wouldn't wish the Cullens upon anyone, especially not her sister.

"Bella," Edward followed after Emmett, flanked by Demetri and Felix. He sounded surprised to see her. "Come home with us, this doesn't have to go the way Alice has foreseen it. Let's not fight."

Bella ignored him and tried to get into Demetri's head, but reached Felix first. ' _Defend us against the Cold Ones.'_ She repeated over and over, each time more force behind it before something clicked inside her mind and Felix actually reached out to Edward and ripped off his head before picking a fight with Emmett. She ordered Demetri to go after Jane and Alec who were influencing her sister. "I did it, Myriam! I did it!"

"Great," Myriam let out as she was on her knees on the floor. "Do more," she said through gritted teeth before she turned into a large grizzly bear and took a swipe at the Cold Ones.

As Demetri was now attacking Jane as well as he could, Bella focused on the minds of the Cold Ones around them. She found Carlisle, who was approaching her with his hands up. "Don't do this, let us take you back, Bella, nobody has to get hurt."

Myriam growled as she took a swipe at Carlisle, pouncing on him and biting off his head. ' _Come on, Bella, more, before they decide to be smart and come at us at once!'_ It was great that she had managed to tell Demetri and Felix to fight for them, but when would that wear off? The Cold One venom itched her teeth and she had to spit it out to get rid of it. It was a shame that with her transformation she was no longer immune to the venom, and neither was Bella.

She slipped into Alice's mind and told her to go to sleep, after getting the same click in her mind when she told Demetri and Felix what to do. Alice dropped to the floor in an instant, fast asleep. One by one, the Cold Ones fell around them. Bella stumbled back a few times, getting dizzy from finding the individual minds and dropping them. Myriam was making sure nobody came close but when the last Cold One found sleep, Myriam turned back into her usual self and let out a breath. "Wow, that was amazing," she grinned as she hugged her sister, not caring that she had torn her clothes while she had turned into that bear and was now totally naked. "Wake them up, let's do that again!"

Bella looked around as she tried to find someone she may have missed, listening around before finding Kol. Smiling, she leaned against the table. "We did it! And wow, you turning into a big bear! That was unreal! Like… super huge! So pretty!"

"She surely is pretty," Klaus' voice sounded as the brothers walked through the broken gate and saw the two sisters standing in the midst of leaking Cold Ones, and some looking as if they were sleeping. They had expected a fight, Kol was itching to kill them all, but it looked as if all they needed to do was to put them all together and create a massive bonfire to get rid of them. A little bit disappointing. Stepping over the Cold Ones, Klaus removed his coat and put it over Myriam's shoulders. "You requested a clean up crew, love?" He asked amused, checking her over for wounds, but she was in one piece.

"You should have seen Myriam, she was amazing!" Bella smiled widely as she was still leaning against the table. She was afraid that if she'd stand properly, she'd fall over.

"And somehow I have the feeling that you were as equally amazing," Kol pulled her into his arms and felt how unsteady she was on her feet. "Did you put them all to sleep?" He asked teasingly, holding her a bit tighter.

"Yes, but not how you wanted me to, though," she said, a little bit embarrassed. "I had to get into their minds one by one, couldn't get them all at once."

"Darling, I'd say that I'm proud of you, but there's no word that describes how proud I am of you because frankly, that's amazing," he kissed the top of her head. "We'll handle the clean up, you deserve a nice nap."

"Yeah, I'll help," Myriam rubbed her hands together in glee. "Where will we be having this bonfire?"

"Somewhere close by, abandoned building that's ruining the characteristics of this city. We have no idea how long it takes for them to wake up from Bella's lovely instructions," Elijah replied as he sent a message to Marcel. One, they were going to have to have a talk - his vampires were definitely not prepared for a Cold One invasion and where they had believed the two sisters were safe, they weren't protected well enough. Two, his vampires were going to help clean this up. "Take care of your ladies, brothers, I'll handle this."

"Fuck that, I want to see them burn, right Bella?"

"Right!" Bella eagerly nodded. "Yes please."

"I think it's best if you'd get a truck to load them on, Elijah, and then set that ablaze in that warehouse," Kol suggested as he lifted Bella off her feet. "And I promise, you'll be awake to see it, but you need a nap first. I think if we should give Elijah and Marcel's vampires an hour, they'll be close to lighting them on fire."

"We need marshmallows, never had those, but you roast them over bonfires, right?" Bella smiled as she put her head against Kol's shoulder.

"I'll get us the goodies!" Myriam called after Bella as she was being carried off to her room. Turning into Klaus, she pressed her barely covered body against him. "An hour… gives us enough time to have some _fun_ ," she smirked as she greedily kissed him. The adrenaline was still surging through her body, she needed to work it off. "I have ideas…" she said as she pulled him along to their bedroom.

"How are you feeling?" Kol asked Bella as he carried her to her room. "You should feel so proud, Bella, what you did was amazing, things could have gone a lot differently if you hadn't done what you did and I could have lost you."

"I couldn't let them take Myriam," Bella replied as she didn't move, she was comfortable the way that Kol was holding her in his arms. "And I didn't want to leave you."

"Good," Kol smiled at her as he brought her inside and gently set her down on her bed. When he got up to sit on the edge of her bed, she pulled him down with her and snuggled up in his arms. "Comfy?" He laughed.

"My brain is mushy, but you know… something just clicked into place when I tried to get into Felix' mind, and then Demetri's, and then it was easy to let them do what I wanted… quite scary."

"But you did it and you protected yourself and your sister," he kissed her forehead. "I'm proud of your mushy brain. Just don't use it for fun."

"I'm not using it at all if I can avoid it!" Bella countered quickly, startled. "I didn't think it was fun, it was easy and scary."

"Okay, okay," he said, pulling her closer. "Relax, give your brain a rest," he said softly as he moved his free hand to her thigh and gently squeezed it. "Relax. I won't bring it up again now that I know you can defend yourself and I will not ask you to use it when we're around."

She nodded and let out a deep breath before relaxing some. "The Volturi will come now. And what about that army of newborns?"

"One crisis at a time, we first have to get rid of these bodies," Kol replied as he playfully ran his fingers over her thigh. "And when they come, they come. And if they don't, we'll go after them ourselves. Italy is beautiful this time of year," he smiled as he relaxed a bit more himself.

"I've never been outside the United States," Bella said a little dreamily. "We've tried to fly to Italy but then I had a panic attack and nearly killed both pilots. Or so I was told. I don't know if that was true, but perhaps they were simply just scared because I made the plane shake a little more than it usually did."

"And if the trip had been successful?"

"We wouldn't have met, I would have been in Italy," she said sadly, looking up at him. "So it's a good thing they left me here, right?"

He let out a snort and nodded. "Yes," he softly kissed her as he moved his hand up a little bit. "I'm grateful that they were afraid of you." He moved his hand underneath her shirt, gingerly touching her warm skin. He buried his nose into her hair and took a deep breath. She smelled so good, she smelled of peaches and oranges with a hint of lavender - his sister was good with finding scents for the right people at that exclusive boutique down the road. There was a hint of adrenaline and fear lingering, but it was subsiding, because all in all, his Bella was relaxed, her brain was in a nice floaty kind of place and she was beautiful.

They had fought some Cold Ones on their way back from their meeting, both he and Nik afraid that they'd lose their girlfriends, and he had been preparing himself for the worst, but when she stood there, all proud of her sister, all he wanted to do was to screw Bella's brains out. But kindly. She was his, and he had the need to truly make her his in the best way possible.

She was no stranger to him touching her, he had already located her sweet spots and had often teased her a little. It was so easy to get her aroused and her scent was so sweet. Kol moved his fingers over her torso, underneath her shirt, up to her small but perky breasts. He cupped a breast over her bra as he nuzzled her neck. "Darling?"

"Hmm?"

"Could you look in my mind and tell me if you'd like that?" He said with a little smile as he kept nuzzling her neck and teasing her body with his fingers. He hadn't anything _raunchy_ in mind, it was going to be Bella's first time, after all. Oh, he wanted to surprise her, make her all like wax in his hands, take his time with her, but they didn't have that time if they were going to make it to the bonfire. Kol was curious if what she'd see in his mind would work as foreplay. "And feel it too?"

She'd been slightly drifting off to sleep as he had wanted her to nap, but did as he requested. While she watched a little movie in his mind, she could feel every touch, every kiss, everything and she wanted more. She could feel her body heating up from the imagery, her feet were tingling and she let out a small moan. Bella wanted more. ' _MORE!'_ She wasn't shown the more part, but she wanted it, and it was sweet that he was asking her for permission.

Kol laughed then, as he could hear her voice echo inside his mind, demanding for more. And that he had her permission to give her just that. He helped her out of her shirt and she wiggled herself out of her sweatpants, and he got undressed himself. He couldn't resist worshipping her with small kisses on her torso as his hand moved into her underwear. She was already wet, but he needed to take things slow now, she needed to have pleasure, first.

She was wiggling underneath his touch, trying to hold onto his arm but her body involuntarily moved and she simply gave up, surrendering to him completely. "Are you okay, darling?" He asked amused. His finger found her lips below and started to trace them carefully. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

Bella nodded then, fisting part of a sheet as he applied a little bit of pressure, a moan escaping her lips, her hips bucking into his hand. She was so eager, she felt things so deeply, her little noises sounded like music to his ears, and he absolutely loved it. He continued teasing her before finding the right spot. Her eyes shot open as she let out a loud gasp, sitting up, her body slightly convulsing in pleasure, nearly kicking him in the head with her knee.

He didn't allow her to come down from that cloud though and immediately started to work on opening her for him as he moved over her, kissing her neck and earlobe, before he realized she had actually stopped breathing. "Bella, darling," he whispered. "You have to keep breathing, take a breath."

She gasped then, only to find her breath again, her eyes having difficulty focussing on him. "Breathing," she said in barely a whisper, letting out another gasp when he pressed another finger inside of her. "That feels so glorious!"

Was it sad that it felt relatively easy for him to get his fingers inside of her? Yes, she was tight, but he had a feeling that while Bella had claimed that she hadn't had sex before, something might have happened anyway. He couldn't be sure, perhaps it was part of her _design_ , but she didn't feel like a virgin. Not that it mattered. It was new and pure every time there was a new person, and if there had been someone for Bella, he was going to make sure that he wasn't going to hurt her, and claim her as his. For the rest of her life.

"What are you thinking of?" Her voice sounded, rousing him from his thoughts. "You're distracted all of a sudden."

Kol wasn't sure if he was supposed to ask this. He didn't want to accuse her of lying, but maybe she didn't know. "Are you sure there hasn't been anyone?"

"I had no penises inside of me," Bella managed to get her hand buried in his hair and looked at him. "I have not had this before. Why?"

"Nothing," he smiled at her and softly kissed her.

"No, tell me, is it not good down there? Am I defective?"

His heart sank then, a little killing the mood. "No, darling, you're perfect. It's just that in my experience, things are usually… tighter."

"Experiments," Bella said as an explanation, not wanting to think about them. "Am I now ruined?"

"No, Bella," he kissed her eagerly. "You're not ruined and you're not defective, you're perfect and I'm sorry I doubted you." He kissed her again before starting to kiss her all over again. "You're mine. The past is in the past, from now on, only pleasure. No more pain." When he was sure that he wouldn't hurt her when he'd push himself inside, he shifted again, Bella's eyes were closed and he could see that she was truly focusing on breathing. "If you're hurting, tell me and I'll stop."

"Okay," she let out a breath before she opened her eyes again and looked at him, and he had the feeling that he could melt right into her. She looked so trusting, so loving and it filled him with so much want. Need. Kol moved her legs a little and moved a little before guiding himself inside of her.

Out of instinct, Bella wrapped her legs around him, pulling him in closer, deeper, faster than he'd have liked. If she was in pain, she wasn't showing it. He buried his face in her neck as he continued to push until he was fully inside, then stilling for Bella to get used to him. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm… that feels so good," she said in barely a whisper, her hands buried in his hair, keeping his face in her neck.

"Ready for more?"

"Yes please."

Letting out a snort, he started to thrust. Slow at first, before steadily picking up the pace. She was making these little noises as they connected, her moans making his whole body vibrate in pleasure. When she had another orgasm, he could feel it around his cock, her muscles playing catch and release with it, making him want to finish himself.

He didn't pull out to catch his breath, afraid that he'd topple on top of her, but also because she seemed to be quite content on that cloud of hers and she was such a sight to look at. However, he couldn't stay in this position for too long and softly kissed her lips as he left her. "How are you feeling?"

Bella merely giggled as she looked at him with a big, goofy grin on her face. Oh, she was gone, she was going to need some time to recover for bonfire night! They were going to be late, but Kol was sure that their family wouldn't mind. Much.


	22. Chapter 22

Klaus could fully understand why Myriam would want Bella to be present at the burning of the Cullens and the Volturi guard, but the hour they had agreed upon turned into two as they waited for Kol and Bella to show up. Not that it was a boring extra hour, no. Bella's _compulsion_ was wearing off and they had to rip off the heads of the vampires that came to. Which was a blast, Klaus had been wanting to do this ever since he received that message from Myriam, so it wasn't _that bad_ that his younger brother and his girlfriend arrived _late_.

Myriam took extra pleasure in dealing with Carlisle Cullen, you might say she went a little overboard, but the look of glee on her face was worth it. This was the man who messed with two human babies and had the care of one of them and severely fucked up. She was carrying around his head as a trophy and kept asking when Bella and Kol would show up because she was ready for that bonfire. She had even made sure there were marshmallows and sticks to put them on for Bella to enjoy them.

Elijah was watching his brother's girlfriend having _fun_ with the remains of the Cold Ones, careful not to get burned by the venom. She was being disrespectful of the dead, but he and his brothers had done far worse in the past, it was simply not… appropriate. Marcel even suggested recording a video of the massacre and send it to the Volturi, and Elijah wasn't sure what to do with that knowledge. It was even out of character for Marcel to even suggest that.

Oh, how Elijah wished that things could go back to normal. The way it used to be before Nik decided to keep a girl in his basement for their younger brother to find. He was fairly certain that Myriam, in her animal form - or at least he hoped in her animal form, had urinated on his bed, and if that was her choice of retaliation for something he'd do or had done, then she was going to be costly.

On the other hand, his brothers were _happy_ and _content_ , something they hadn't been in a long time, and it was Elijah who was still trying to take care of them. Was there still room for him in this family or was it time to create some distance? However, these moods of happiness and being content never lasted long, not with his brothers. It was best to stay with them to steer them back onto the right path when needed.

"Sorry we're late," Kol announced, holding Bella's hand as they approached the rest of the family. "Bella's still a bit wobbly."

"If you had chosen not to have sex and had allowed her to sleep for an hour, you would have been here on time," Klaus teased before nodding towards his girlfriend. "Not to worry, Myriam has had fun with the Cold Ones after they woke up."

"Yeah! Bella! Look!" Myriam skipped over to her sister, holding Carlisle's head by the hair. "We should keep all the heads in the dungeon so we can bowl with them, at least then they'll be useful."

"Ew," Bella shook her head as she took a step back. Even though Carlisle was decapitated and couldn't do anything other than bite, she didn't want to be near it. At all.

"Really?" Myriam pouted. "No bowling?"

"Not with them. They need to burn," Bella said as she took Carlisle's head in an act of bravery and put it next to the heads that were laying in a circle as if they were stones for a bonfire that would be the neatly stacked pile of Cold One bodies. "But you can use the Volturi heads once they try to come to take us in revenge," she said playfully. "I didn't see them much, they won't hurt."

Myriam put her arms around her sister from the back and handed her a lighter. "Set them ablaze, sis, you've earned it."

"But the whole building will burn down."

"That's okay, Klaus choose this spot because it's old and in need of a replacement anyway," Myriam said encouraging. "Burn."

Bella nodded as she flicked open the lighter and produced the flame, before throwing the lighter into the pile of Cold Ones. It didn't take long for the flames to consume them, clothes catching fire, large flames licking on the venom and marble. Myriam pulled Bella away for safety but once the fire was stabilized, she took Bella back to the flames and handed her a stick that had marshmallows on them.

"Let's truly roast them!" Myriam cheered. "You're free of the Cullens, Bella. For good."

~o.O.o~

It was nice to live in a relative sense of security after their disposal of the Cold Ones. The Newborn army was retreating, and the Volturi had sent a messenger over with a white flag. The messenger tasted nice, according to Kol, who had wiped his mouth on the white flag and sent it back with the messenger, who he had compelled to kill himself on the square of Volterra upon arrival.

Myriam had been wanting to take Bella out in New Orleans forever, especially since her sister hadn't really known the freedom that she had now. She'd never gone shopping for fun, or seen the masses and masses of people, because she was either being restricted or 'on a job'. She had been begging Klaus for a few days, even threatening to stop having sex with him, and he relented eventually, on the condition that Kol would accompany the two sisters. Not because they couldn't take care of themselves, but because Bella would feel more safe with the two of them with her.

And so, Kol and Myriam took Bella into New Orleans, to show her the beauty of the world around her and to have various kinds of food that they wouldn't normally have. Meeting witches who did favors for the Mikaelsons from time to time - although that wasn't truly necessary anymore with Freya around. Myriam had wanted to go to Walmart for so long, and hadn't had the opportunity yet, but that was one store that Kol drew the line at. There was no way that he was going to set foot in that death trap that was Walmart. He was going to give the girls an hour to look around and buy stuff, but he wasn't going inside himself.

At first, Myriam took a cart and took Bella through the store, getting everything she had missed as a Cold One, including several boxes of cereal, chocolate, drinks and other stuff that she had asked Chef to get her many times before but never got what she wanted. When a store associate came over to them while browsing the book section and asking if they needed help, Myriam started to cry. "Why won't you people just leave me alone?"

Bella had been as startled as the store associate, who paled and backed off. "Are you alright, Myr?"

"Of course I'm not, he asked if we needed help, but do we look like we need help? Do we look helpless?" She still cried, the associate still backing away. "Just because we're females doesn't mean that we need _help_."

"I think he was just being kind," Bella said quietly, feeling sorry for the associate and really not understanding what Myriam was doing. She didn't feel sad, she felt funny.

Myriam sighed as she wiped her pretty convincing tears and stopped crying. "It was a joke, Bella, jokes are to make people laugh. Let's see if we can annoy more people!" She grabbed a handful of self-help books and they went back to the groceries.

"Self-help books? Why do we need those?"

"They aren't for us, exactly… For other customers. And maybe a couple for Elijah. I think I need to piss in his bed again soon."

Bella blinked as her sister blatantly admitted to peeing in Elijah's bed. It was a strange thing to do, but who was she to say something about it? She then watched her sister put the books in various carts before dropping two of them in their own cart. She then started to stamp her feet like a maniac. She started spinning like crazy before cheering. "What?"

"That was a cockroach!" she exclaimed loudly. "And I think it was pregnant but I killed it and the babies!"

"Myr!" Bella hissed. "There was no cockroach!"

"I know that, but they don't know that, look at their faces!" Myriam giggled as they quickly went out of the aisle. "What else can we do… hmm… Oh! I'll be right back! Keep on shopping for groceries Bella, anything you might think you'll like, I think you'll like chips." She then used her speed to go somewhere, leaving Bella absolutely terrified of what she might do now.

Myriam picked out various sizes of sexy lingerie and put them in carts where married men, preferably old, were pushing them. She didn't have to wait long for a wife to come back and find it, berating her husband and accusing him of cheating on her because that's so not her size.

Myriam then went on to compel random people to do the stupidest of things, only for her own entertainment.

Bella didn't like Walmart much, but her sister seemed to have a blast. Kol had told her that at a store she'd have to pay for her things at a register, and when she found them, she queued up and texted Kol that she was coming out with the stuff Myriam had wanted, but that she had no idea what Myriam was up to - and acting crazy.

Kol found Bella at the register with the cart overflowing. "Myriam wants all of this?"

Bella nodded. "She wants to eat it all."

Sighing, Kol put half of it on the counter and then kicked the cart back into the store. "She's getting half. I've called Nik, he'll be here shortly to make sure she doesn't do anything too outrageous." Bella then proceeded to tell him what she had already done and he merely rolled his eyes. "Don't allow her to corrupt you, darling. You're right, messing with an entire store of people isn't right. Even I wouldn't do that on a bad day."

"That's bullshit," Bella countered quickly. Having been in his mind for a few times, and having been connected to him like that, she knew better than that. "If it weren't for me, little old me who's a stranger to New Orleans as a city, you'd be right there with her to create chaos and mayhem. Perhaps drink everything in the alcohol department while you were at it. Go on then, have fun with Myriam, I'm not helpless and I'll wait. Outside."

"No, Nik will be here shortly," he said as he put an arm around her. "And you're right, this is my kind of fun, but frankly, I'm having more fun with you. We'll have someone bring this back to the compound and then I'll take you somewhere that I think you'll like."

"Where?"

"Oh, it'll be a surprise," he smiled at her. "But trust me that you'll see enough to be wanting to go back with your sketchpad to draw everything you see."

Kol took her to the zoo, and he'd been right, she was enjoying it very much to see so many animals in one place and she did want to go back to draw them all. But for now, she'd have to do with the pictures that she took on her phone. She was glad that she had received a phone from Kol for this day and he had shown her how to text and now how to make pictures with it.

He then took her out to dinner, to a restaurant that was not really a restaurant as it was in a normal house, with the front room decked out as a dining room, and the family living in the house serving as the cook and waiters. He liked a small setting like this, especially because Bella had been exposed to a lot of influences that day already. The food was spectacular, and he was grateful that it was still around, that an _anonymous donor_ helped to keep the doors open. And Kol liked it that she liked the setting very much too.

Oh, wouldn't it be nice to have his own little apartment with Bella once they knew for sure that the Cold Ones wouldn't be a threat to her and her sister anymore? Granted, that likely meant moving somewhere close because of Myriam, but he believed that Bella would flourish being away from it all. On the other hand, maybe it was too soon to take the two sisters away from each other, they were both still adjusting to their new lives, after all.

When they finally got back to the compound, Klaus was fuming and drinking in the courtyard. "Never ever take her to Walmart again, do you understand?!" He said the moment he laid eyes on his brother. "Do you have any idea what she's done? Aside from small pranks, she had all the managers line up and had their underlings pelt them with marbles taken from the children's department. Apparently there was this really annoying pharmacist that she got wind of who was treating his staff poorly and wasn't doing his job, so she had him strap on some gear and abseil from the building, but not safely, no, half way down he had to let go of himself and hit his head. Killed! The amount of police and ambulances present was massive. Even NCIS showed up because surprise, surprise, the pharmacist had been part of the Navy for a few years!" He refilled his glass and gulped it down. "Oh, and she also put pregnancy tests in women's baskets. Condoms in other baskets. She took a bite of all the fresh produce in her sight, and even ruined the food court! You will not take her to Walmart again!"

"It wasn't my idea, Nik," Kol countered, trying really hard not to laugh. "She wanted to give Bella the Walmart experience. Had I known Myriam would do all of that, I'd certainly would have joined! Lighten up, Nik. It's just Walmart," he started to laugh and ducked when his brother threw his empty glass at him.

Myriam flounced down the stairs with her chocolate twizzlers and flopped on the couch beside Klaus. "Oh don't worry. There's is a Super Target in Harvey we can always visit next!"

"Yes! Let's!" Kol grinned.

"Absolutely not!" Klaus huffed as he looked at his girlfriend and then at his brother. "Have you two lost your mind?"

"It's a bit of harmless fun, Nik!"

"Tell that to the pharmacist!"

"He was an asshole, believe me, I've coaxed it out of the pharmacy workers. They're better off without him. He was some transfer from New Jersey because they didn't want him there, but he was bound to kill people with his lax behavior and not paying attention to the fucking details," Myriam rolled her eyes at him. "We don't like bad people, we do like killing them!" She then reached for the bottle standing on the table next to the couch and drank from it, not bothering to grab a glass. They were all dead, and couldn't catch anything from each other, why use a glass? "Did you have fun at the zoo, Bella? That place Kol took you to for dinner looked great!"

"Yeah," Bella smiled, almost remembering that she had the pictures of the animals on her phone. She couldn't wait to start drawing them. "We had a great time, but I don't think that I should be in the city that often… what if I get lost and I don't have the phone on me?"

"You'll be alright. You simply need to become more familiar with the city, that's all. And you can do that by going into town more often," Myriam said as she took another swig of the bottle. "But I think we should go to Italy first, take care of the Volturi and the newborn army that's retreated to them. We need to end this. Now. They're preparing something big and it won't be pretty."

"Hey now," Kol said as he put his hands on Bella's ears. "No ruining the great day your sister's had, you could have saved this for tomorrow."

Myriam shrugged. "I've been sitting on this for days now because we were having so much fun, but seriously, it's getting bigger the longer we wait, better go there now and end this," she then pointed at Bella. "It will be easy. We'll set off a few glitter bombs so they can't really see things coming and then Bella will just put everyone to sleep. We'll puncture everyone until they start leaking, light a match and watch them all burn," she then sighed. "The only snag is, Bella will have to wipe everyone out in one fell sweep. That's at least two hundred of newborns and the Volturi."

"No!" Bella said as she swatted Kol's hands away. "I can't do that! Think of something else!"

"Fine, but you _are_ coming with. On an airplane. To Italy. And once we've gotten rid of them, we'll go to the beach and soak up some of the mediterranean sun," Myriam countered before looking at Klaus. "And you have no other choice but to take that holiday, too."

"I don't?"

"No, you don't. You'll like being away from New Orleans for a bit, recharge. Buy cool trinkets for Hope," she smirked as she put her arms around his neck. "So summon the troops, we have to leave soon."

"We'll leave tomorrow," Kol insisted as he took Bella to her room. After closing the door, he sighed. "I am sorry that she ruined your day, darling."

"Nothing ruined," Bella assured him, a big smile on her face. "I still had a great time, Kol, thank you," she put her phone on the table and then went towards him, putting her arms around him and looked up at him. "Can I keep the phone for the photos?"

"It's yours, darling," he smiled and softly brushed her lips with his. "It's yours. No need to return it to me, because I'll hand it back to you," he kissed her again and then grinned. "I was thinking we should knock the wall down that's separating our rooms, that way we can have a living space that's as big as Nik's, what do you say?"

"I'm saying that..." she thought for a moment before tiptoeing and kissing him hard. "We should have some more fun before we are going to Italy tomorrow, and think about other things when that's over."

"You won't hear me complain, darling," he grinned as he scooped her up and brought her to the bed. "Not a single complaint here."


	23. Chapter 23

She had been on planes before, but then completely numbed down as the Cullens had been afraid of her. But Bella absolutely enjoyed the trip to Rome, Italy. She loved seeing the clouds from above and she was glued to the window with her sketchpad. It was only when it got dark that she had to stop drawing and fell asleep against Kol.

"Oh, I can't wait to go to our home in Rome," Rebekah sighed happily. "The Italians taste so delicious! Must be their diet, surely."

Myriam pouted. "I wish I could eat humans."

"Oh, don't worry, darling," Rebekah smiled at her. "I'm sure Niklaus won't mind gorging on pastas and garlic so you can have a taste… Oh, we can go shopping!"

"We're here to kill the Volturi and the newborns and hopefully that will send a message to the rest of the Cold Ones who still are doing unspeakable things. If not, I'll keep hunting them down," Myriam countered as she pointed at her sleeping sister. "Who knows there might be more Bella's hidden amongst them." She then smiled at Klaus. "Of course, only when the intel is solid and when we have nothing else on our hands. Bella and I appreciate it a lot that you're all willing to help out to cut off the head of the snake."

Elijah took a sip of his bourbon as he contemplated on what he was going to say. "All nightmares need an ending and we're in the position of ending one."

~o.O.o~

They first went to their house in Rome. Kol, and especially Klaus, were certain that both Myriam and Bella were going to like it, as it had a view on the Coliseum and the Imperial Forum. The Mikaelsons owned the entire late 1800's building, but the best sight was of course on the top floor, to be taken up there by a wonderful elevator. It was almost as if it was the New Orleans compound, but then more elegant with a welcoming entrance, a double living room with a fireplace, six bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, a large kitchen and a dining room. There were also two extra rooms, one completely fitted as a library, the other as an art studio. And, not to forget, the large balconies on both sides of the building were spacious and enjoyable.

They hadn't been in their Rome home for years, but loyal staff kept the place spotless in case they'd drop by. The home was quite different from the home in New Orleans, but they had liked it when buying the properties all those years ago to make every home a comfortable place, yet different from what they owned; to stave off boredom for one, and also every country had its own charm.

Bella and Myriam were surprised and charmed by the beauty of the home and so was Kol, having missed so much during his time in his box. He had to admit that, so far, this was their best home yet. Granted, New Orleans was beautiful, but there were too many shitty memories attached to that city that he couldn't enjoy it like he felt he could enjoy Rome. "Right!" Rebekah announced as she put both of her arms around the sisters. "Since we're traveling light, we're going to need some clothes, and that means, we're going shopping. Now."

They had agreed upon a few days of 'downtime' for everyone to get their rest, fighting Cold Ones was never easy, let alone an army of Newborns; they all needed their strength and be on their best. Being vampires, they wouldn't have much issue with the time difference, but Bella might now that she was used to sleeping regularly in peace.

"But we just got here!" Bella objected as she looked at Kol for help. The last time she went shopping with her sister had been Walmart and that had been a disaster. She wasn't keen on a repeat of that happening in a city that she didn't know and didn't speak the language.

"Yes," Rebekah said as she blocked Bella's view of Kol and smiled at her. "And we've been on a plane with my siblings for the last 10 hours or so and I've had enough of them for now. We're going shopping. Let them work on their own affairs. Don't worry, Bella, I'm not afraid of Nik so when your sister tries to do something that'll make us look bad, I'll hurt her," Rebekah smiled at her before flashing a grin at Myriam. "I mean that. We're not home. We're in a different country and yes, we can compel people but not to ruin everyone's day, got it?"

"It was just messing around in Walmart, in that pit of desperation, funny smells and incapable managers," Myriam defended herself. "And it was fun. What happened at Walmart stays at Walmart, although I can't unsee some of those questionable outfits…"

"We're going to Piazza di Spagna," Rebekah mused. "Gucci, Prada, Versace… Louis Vuitton… Jimmy Choo…"

"Ohh," Myriam said, immediately perking up. "Let's go!"

While Elijah got their affairs in order; getting a cook and extra servants for blood, Klaus retreated to his studio to sort through the art equipment he had there. Kol was hanging out in the library, finding a lot of grimoires that they could use in New Orleans, knowing that Freya would get a kick out of these. He also recognized a lot of the books as his own, thinking they'd been lost previously. He was annoyed that he found a book chronicling the lives of a Cold One tribe in Egypt, and he was going to show it to Myriam. There was no doubt in his mind that she'd find the book extremely interesting and would love to go after them.

Kol was worried about Bella being in Rome without him, but with her sister and his sister. Now, he trusted Rebekah in looking after her, of course, but he'd rather have wanted to tag along, just in case. He could have, if it hadn't been for Rebekah's death glare. Yeah, perhaps he was spending _too much_ time with Bella, but he didn't care. She was fun to spend time with, even when she was focused on drawing.

The girls had been gone for hours, and the cook had just finished cooking when they came back, Myriam carrying Bella in her arms, with not an amused look on her face. Bella looked even more bemused and in pain. "Before anyone is killing someone, let me explain," Rebekah said as she walked in behind them with bags. "We had Bella try on some heels, she fell over and hurt her ankle and she _made_ us return her to you. We weren't allowed to give her our blood to heal her."

Myriam set Bella down on a chair and scowled. "It's just blood! Had she taken our blood, we would still be out there, having fun!"

"Well, you're just in time for dinner," Klaus said, amused as he put an arm around his girlfriend. "Did you have fun?"

"Of course," Myriam huffed. "Shopping is always fun, especially when there are expensive stores around. We had fun until she fell over and made us go back. Like _made_ us go back. Nice power and all, but to use it for a little thing as a hurt ankle?"

"I know, love," Klaus said sweetly as he guided her to the dining room. "But I am glad that you had fun. You can go back shopping in the morning."

Kol gently touched Bella's ankle, noticing the swelling. At least it wasn't broken. She winced and retracted her foot from his hand. "You should have allowed your sister to give you her blood," he said as he looked at her, curious. "Why didn't you?"

Bella shrugged for an answer.

"Are you going to allow me to give you my blood or are am I going to get the same treatment as our sisters?" He asked playfully before moving and softly kissing her. "No heels, huh?"

"No," Bella shook her head. "No to the heels, yes to the blood please," she smiled at him.

He grabbed an empty glass, bit his hand and poured some of his blood in it before handing it to Bella. "Did you have fun?"

"I still don't understand the idea of buying clothes because of it being pretty and making you look pretty instead of it being useful, but they found me some pretty dresses."

Kol laughed. "You're going to fight Cold Ones in a pretty dress?"

Bella shrugged as she closed her eyes and drank the blood. Oh, he knew she hated it and she looked so cute trying not to taste it. "I'll wear whatever, I could go naked."

He took her now empty glass and pulled her up, giving her ankle some more time to heal as he brought her to the dining room. "You could, but I'm afraid that I can't allow you to do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I'll want to have sex with you while we're trying to eliminate your nightmares," he grinned as he set her down on the chair. "Which is fine, but not fair towards our family. We're not going to slack off."

"I don't want to slack," she replied as she felt Kol's blood do its magic in her body and started to heal her ankle. "I want to put them all down, as much as I possibly can."

"That's the spirit!" Rebekah cheered as she raised her glass. "I'll drink to that!"

~o.O.o~

Jetlag really set in for Bella the next day where she stayed in bed all day, drawing or sleeping and he took her into Rome the day after, and it was hard to keep his hands off of her as she wore a bright yellow Versace dress with ballerina's underneath them to walk on. She still didn't like shoes very much but the ballerina's weren't that bad to walk on.

He took her to Trevi Fountain, threw in a coin in the fountain to make a wish before going to the smaller fountain on the left to have a drink from it. Bella liked the idea of knowing that when lovers drank from that fountain, they'd be faithful to each other forever. She also loved the surroundings of the Fountain, as it was situated at the end of an aqueduct that had been constructed by the son-in-law of Emperor Augustus nearly two thousand years ago.

Kol quipped that he hardly came across things that were older than him, and he thought that Rome in particular was absolutely wonderful because of it. Through Bella, his own wonder and fascination got sparked, seeing things in a different, new and exciting way.

After that, they went Pincio Gardens for a nice stroll around the little lake, and saw most of the beautiful buildings of Rome while walking around. There were beautiful little cafés in the park where they sat down and enjoyed the sunshine while looking at the people passing by them. The pathways of the Gardens were lined with busts of famous nineteenth century Italians and Europeans, in various states of disrepair. Bella was enthralled by the water clock, finding it beautiful. She snapped some pictures of it and hoped she could draw it and made it so the water would appear to be flowing. She wanted to put more motion into her drawings.

He took her to the best restaurant in town. He didn't need to impress her with fancy food, which was more of a Nik thing to do, anyway, and instead went to a family run restaurant which only seated about 50 people. The staff was very friendly, they had excellent, traditional Italian food and homemade bread. Bella absolutely loved it and she hated that her stomach was full, she wanted more of that food!

Nik announced when they got back to their home that they were going to go to Volterra the following day, and that Bella should get a nice rest from her day out and about - and that there was already a servant running her bath for her. Of course, Kol was more than welcome to join in, but Klaus also reminded him to go out and feed as they didn't want to drain their servants and they weren't going to stop on the way to Volterra unless the immortal human needed a pee break. After all, 4 hours in a car were quite hellish, although they didn't have to hold themselves to the speed limit, especially not since they were going in two cars. Mini vans were so not stylish.

~o.O.o~

Bella was dressed to kill. Myriam and Rebekah had put her into a red dress, fixed her hair and she was wearing light makeup and bright red lips. Kol definitely didn't want to share a car with Bella by himself; Rebekah had to join them so he would keep driving and keep his hands off of Bella. She was so fuckable. All three the girls looked stunning, and Rebekah explained to him in the car that it was so that the Volturi could see not to mess with beautiful women, they'd be the last thing they'd see before getting killed.

In the trunk of both cars were cases of Molotov Cocktails, which would make it easier to set fire to the Cold Ones, as they weren't sure how many of them were in Volterra. Elijah believed it to be in the hundreds, if not thousands, as word spread around like wildfire that the Olympic Coven had been murdered and most of the Cold Ones in the United States, and they'd all come next. Klaus couldn't wait to set fire to Volterra. He really wanted to level the entire ancient city so something new could be built on its ruins and hopefully something beautiful.

And, of course, with the explosives in the boot, they had to drive a bit more careful, and Kol didn't like to stick to speed limits in a beautiful car. It made the trip to Volterra even more agonizing, especially since Bella wasn't paying attention to the way she sat in her chair, constantly moving around as she stared out of the window, looking at their surroundings. Sitting on her knees, then back on her ass, back on her knees, much like a small child and while he liked her excitement, he wanted to fuck her mercilessly. Bend her over on the hood of the car.

It was then when Bella looked at him with a cheeky smile on her face. Oh, she knew. She knew what was going on in his mind and she was actually doing things on purpose, knowing how much he loved seeing her skin. "You're so not being fair," Kol laughed, shaking his head. He still allowed her inside his mind, as it gave them both a sense of security, but in this situation it was a dangerous thing, because he would pull the car over and snap his sister's neck to have his way with his girlfriend. "Get out of my head, you minx."

Bella pouted as she sat back down in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "I can still function after sex, you know. All I have to do is knock Rebekah out and then you can drive us somewhere safe and we can have sex the way you want us to."

"You will do no such thing!" Rebekah objected. "Wait until we're done! You can have your celebratory freedom sex afterwards!"

Bella sat still for a few minutes before she started to fidget with the hem of her dress. Just as Kol thought; the only reason she was thinking about sex was to keep her mind off of what they were going to do in Volterra. He found it endearing that she pretended to be brave in the last few days but now that they were actually going to do it, he could see that she was nervous. "Bella, you do know that you don't have to do anything you don't want to, right? We're all a bunch of vampires and we're armed with molotov cocktails to make things progress faster. If you don't want to help, that's okay too."

"I do want to help," she said quickly, still fidgeting with her dress. "But there will be many, and maybe the newborns won't be all that bad, there are good Cold Ones too, like Myriam's parents."

"Trust me, ducky," Rebekah said as she gently squeezed Bella's shoulder. "Anyone who's standing with the Volturi is an enemy. And yes, maybe the newborns didn't choose to become a vampire, we've created pawns ourselves too back in the day, but it's war. And now they're standing with those who have treated you so wrong. They're no longer human, it's alright to get rid of them. Because if we don't, they _will_ come after you."

"The best defense is a great offense," Bella nodded, her voice barely audible as she looked out the window. "But still, you don't have to do this, you've already done so much."

"We're family now, Bella, this is what you do when you're a family. You fight for each other, with each other and between each other," Rebekah replied as she saw her brother grip the wheel tightly in annoyance. Ah, so he didn't like _everything_ about Bella! Rebekah had truly believed that the girl couldn't do wrong in Kol's eyes. "Honestly, get it out of your head that you're alone and that you don't deserve a happy, loving life."

"I don't want you to get hurt, that's all."

"And we don't want _you_ to get hurt, either. We're doing this. As a family. End of." Rebekah said as she slouched back on the backseat. "It's been awhile since we've launched a big assault like this by ourselves, it'll do us all good to stretch our fighting muscles and release some energy."

"And when we're done, we'll find ourselves a beach with a great house and relax. Soak up the sun and no worries in the world," Kol smiled at Bella. "And a lot of sex and nakedness."


	24. Chapter 24

Bella hated it that Volterra was so beautiful. It was situated on top of a mountain with walls all around and the buildings were old, ancient. The streets weren't paved with modern stones, either. She didn't sense any human inside the city, either. It was filled with Cold Ones and she felt relieved, she had been afraid of human casualties. There was no way you could drive a car in Volterra, which meant they'd have to walk the next few kilometres and there was no doubt they'd get company on their way up.

They were greeted by a mass of Newborns who were ready to kill them as they walked through the gates to make their way up to the top, to the castle that held the Volturi. It only made sense they had the newborns recalled, as most of the Volturi Guard had been killed by them less than a week ago in New Orleans. Elijah muttered something along the lines of why they hadn't surrendered already, knowing what could be in store for them.

Kol was happy with the challenge. All they needed was to cut the Cold Ones _somewhere_ , or round them up, really, and throw a molotov cocktail at them. He and Rebekah were all for chaos and mayhem. And that was what it was, all the way to the top. Limbs flying everywhere, occasionally ducking out of the way for splattering of venom, buildings and Cold Ones set on fire, and everyone telling Bella to stop exhausting herself by forcing the Cold Ones to fight each other because they were going to need her on her best in the castle.

Myriam was having fun using her magic, doing the simple things such as pushing the Cold Ones back or breaking their necks off of their torso's, much like Kol had told her to do. She didn't want to change into an animal right now, it wasn't necessary and her dress was too pretty. Like Bella, she was wearing a dress, black but with red accents to match her sister. Unlike her sister, Myriam could walk on high heels and her Jimmy Choo's were extremely comfortable to walk on.

Halfway through the city, most of it was already burning, they stumbled upon a bakery that still had fresh pastries, telling Bella that the humans must have left quite recently. Myriam pushed something in Bella's hands and told her to eat while they rounded up the next wave of Newborns and destroyed them. Klaus had already gotten hurt a little when the venom splattered on him and burned through his shirt, but he insisted that he was doing alright; it'd heal eventually.

When they got to the top of the city and the vampires were taking a breather, finishing their blood bags to heal up and watch the fire from their spot, Bella couldn't help but to feel as if all of this was her fault. So many lives were lost. Granted, newborns were usually created to be destroyed within their first year if they were created for an army, but still, lives were lost. She had hurt so many newborns when she was still with the Cullens due to them being in close proximity to her when she had one of her meltdowns, but lives were lost.

It wasn't as if they could be cuddled and loved, either. Newborns needed a leader and they were definitely loyal to the Volturi. And without most of the Volturi guard already gone, newborns were the last line of defense. And the Volturi created them, not Bella. But they were created because of her and what had happened after she had screwed up. Well, she screwed up, but her life was better now.

She needed to stop making excuses for them. The Volturi and 95% of the Cold Ones were evil and needed to be destroyed. Her sister had already done most of the destroying and there were likely some more Cold Ones around who did horrific things to humans and or children, but by destroying the Volturi they'd send a powerful message. And Bella was so ready to send that message.

The Volturi ensured that both her and her sister didn't have a normal family. Her sister was raised by two loving Cold Ones, but Bella wasn't. She had to miss out on the most important things. She was the reason some children were being kept around too. The Volturi exploited so many children, and perhaps a lot of adults as well and they needed to pay.

She could feel her hatred towards them bubble underneath her skin, itching to get out. She _really_ wanted to destroy them, and it shocked her that she didn't feel remorseful about it. It was bad to kill people, but The Volturi weren't people. They were monsters. Not even the Mikaelsons had done horrific things to children like this while they could have, they were powerful enough. There were no redeeming qualities about the Volturi. None. Absolutely none.

All the Mikaelsons had admitted that they'd done some questionable things in the past, not as bad as hurting children, and they had turned over a new leaf. While they all didn't believe that had redeemed their Karma, Bella believed that they were truly good people. Likely the best on this Earth. It took some time, but they changed. For the better.

The Volturi needed to pay. For all the lives that the Cold Ones had destroyed, either by turning them into vampires, newborns or by taking children, by manipulating children. The numbers ran in the thousands, perhaps even millions. All those lives. Hurt. Lost. Bella couldn't stop the tears from flowing, and she quickly wiped them away with her hand.

"Are you alright, darling?" Kol asked as he put his arms around her, holding her tightly.

Bella nodded as she looked up to him with watery eyes. "I'm happy," she replied. "After we're done, everyone will be a lot safer. Children will be with their families and nobody will be turned to become a worthless army of throw-away vampires. No one will have to live through what I and so many others have lived through."

He smiled at her then and lightly brushed her lips with hers. "You are ready to do some real damage?"

Bella nodded.

"Then I think we're all ready to proceed to the castle's doors," he kissed the top of her head and put his arm around her as he looked at his siblings. "Aren't we?"

"Let's huff and puff this place to the ground," Myriam said as she eagerly rubbed her hands before looping her arm through Bella's free one. "I am so going to enjoy this. I always believed I needed a big army to take on the Volturi, but _we_ are the army, Bella."

"Hey, what about us? We've helped!" Rebekah objected, seemingly hurt.

"An army of six," Myriam smirked at her. "That's all we need. Granted… I wouldn't have been able to pull it off as a Cold One. Despite everything, after a lot of loss and a lot of gain, I am grateful that Klaus decided to keep Bella in his dungeon after his daughter kidnapped her. If that hadn't happened, we would have been in a completely different situation."

"I will have to teach Hope that we don't bring home strays and _she_ certainly won't go looking for trouble next time!" Klaus huffed.

"It's a family trait, Nik, you brought home Marcel one day, didn't you?" Kol teased him. "The only difference is is that _everyone_ likes Bella, and Myriam. I'd say that your daughter has better taste than you."

"That was different!"

"I don't think so," Elijah replied thoughtfully. He hadn't spoken much and had instead focused on their upcoming battle and fighting the newborns. Their first battle with the newborns up to the castle had been cathartic. Every once in a while, he needed to feed his inner monster and it hungered for more. "Granted, Marcellus was only a boy, but he was unfairly treated, like Miss Bella, who, unfortunately suffered at the hands of immortal beings like ourselves…"

Bella opened the door to the castle. "Can we stop talking about this, please?" She ducked away when a wave of Newborns shot out of the open doors, looking at them with big eyes, surprised. "I should have thought about listening out for thoughts before I opened that door…" She eventually said when the vampires were taken care of. "Why didn't I do that? I'm so sorry. It's the one thing I can do and I failed at it."

"It weren't that many," Kol said as he put his arm back around her and smiled. "We're all still in one piece. Now, where do we go?"

"I-I don't know," Bella said as she peeked inside the main entrance from the door. "I haven't been here before." She looked around in the reception area, there was no one behind the desk and all the doors were closed. The castle was nothing but a converted and extended church, but the Volturi had left in most of the furbishes and glass panels. Coloured glass depicting stuff from Christianity. Wooden beams and sand-coloured walls.

If it weren't for them being on a mission to kill the Cold Ones inside the building, Bella would have loved to take a few pictures on her phone so she could try to replicate it with her drawings. Listening for any random thought, it took her awhile to find one, there was no doubt that the Volturi had tried to teach the newborns to control their thoughts, but Bella was powerful. She could push and listen. She didn't want to make the same mistake that she had done earlier, she'd been lazy. But there was more going on, maybe some magical protection. It took her a minute before she picked up on about a dozen behind a door, she pointed at it. "That way, but there might be magic involved, I should have easily picked up on them."

"I thought the Volturi didn't do magic?" Kol wondered out loud.

"The Volturi have very powerful wives who aren't a part of the guard, it's likely that they are now working hard to confuse some of us," Elijah replied calmly, tugging on the sleeves of his shirt. He hated wrinkles.

"The wives go first then," Klaus decided before he opened the door in one fell swoop and started to tear into the Cold Ones that were waiting for them. It was disappointing that this was another 'waiting area'. It had been a long time since he and Elijah were at this castle; something he and his brother kept quiet because they weren't proud of it. They were here centuries ago, after learning of this new breed of vampire and their curiosity got the better of them.

Their visit had been trivial. One time only. Nothing to feel guilty about towards the girls because there had been no indication of any of the Volturi's projects. Then again, the Volturi were big on secrecy. And back in those days, the Mikaelsons didn't particularly care about what was right or wrong, only survival. Upon learning that the Cold Ones were nearly indestructible and had a lot of means, they had tried to become allies with the Volturi for protection against Mikael, but even the Volturi didn't want to dirty their hands on a 'family dispute'.

The Volturi were likely too afraid that Mikael would eat through some of them, which was part of his and Elijah's plan back then - give Mikael a distraction, but still. It had been a one time visit, because the Volturi and the Cold Ones were not the same as them. Elijah didn't like them, and that's saying something as Elijah liked nearly everyone with power. Klaus hadn't liked them because they weren't going to roll over easily. He didn't like having _allies_ that believed that they were better than the Mikaelsons. Why? Because they wouldn't, and couldn't, be controlled. Control was everything.

Yes, they had intended to use the Volturi for many things, and, in the end, they were going to use them for kindle.

After clearing this room, Klaus kicked down one of the other doors. Even if they had to go through the entire castle and clear it all, they were going to find the Volturi. They weren't going to be delicate about it, as long as his family kept up with him, everything would be alright. Wronged things needed to be made right.

They tore through the castle for an hour or so, searching every nook and cranny before finally finding the Volturi hiding on the top floor, with their wives and another shield of newborns. According to Bella, these were newborns with gifts. It wasn't going to be as easy as before despite all the strength, gifts and powers they shared amongst them.

However, the Volturi were more than happy to hide behind the redshirts, like the cowards that they were and when they were almost through the last line of defense, one of the Volturi, Bella remembered his name being Marcus, commanded everyone to stop, his voice echoing through the space that they were in. His voice sounded deep, loud and demanding, likely trying to regain some sense of control.

"Surely there's a peaceful solution," he said, half a smile on his face before looking over at the other two 'kings', one looking absolutely terrified and the other one only had entertainment washed over his face. He looked at Myriam then. "You must be the one who has been diminishing our numbers and destroying our facilities for the last few years when we all believed it to be your sister."

Bella wasn't interested in _stopping_. There was no peaceful solution and she could tell that they didn't even want a peaceful solution, only their own survival. She searched the wives for any clues, but _Dora_ was a normal wife belonging to the younger Volturi leader and Sulpicia - what kind of a name was that? - belonged to the terrified looking leader. There was a woman standing right next to them, who seemed to be their guard, and she was influencing the women right now. And the men, but mostly the women. Including another one of the female guard and that was one to be wary of.

Her name was Charmion, and she had her gift in almost everyone of the Volturi, linking them together. The one who spoke was tied to the terrified looking one, his loyalty burning with her gift and oh, it was so easy to get inside her mind and she was already trying to work on breaking the emotional bonds between the Mikaelsons, Bella could tell, and she was going to stop her. ' _I want you to kill the wives, then the other female and then yourself. I don't care how, just do it.'_ While slipping inside the vampire's mind had been easy, telling her what to do was not, but Bella was strong. She could do this.

When Charmion finally relented, the terrified looking vampire looked even more ashen than he had been, and the younger one tried to stop this powerful vampire from doing what she was doing, but to no avail. The three women dropped like flies before Charmion cut herself and lit herself on fire. Bella couldn't help but have a stupid grin on her face as she watched the spectacle.

"Bella, the man called for a cease," Elijah chastised her playfully.

"I'm done listening to Cold Ones," Bella muttered as she looked at the three Volturi leaders, looking like the pathetic creatures that they were. Without their power, they were nothing. Absolutely nothing. The guard had already been taken care of in New Orleans, Bella had now taken care of the wives, and surely the Volturi leaders had seen the slaughter of Newborns?

"Of course," the terrified looking leader said, a faint smile dancing on his lips, a sparkle in his eyes, there was no doubt that he believed that he had a trick on his sleeve. "Bella Swan, the girl who we've had so much hope for and in the end, turned out to be a monster," he said as he straightened himself up in a small act of bravery. "And you're still a monster, look at all the dead Cold Ones because of you. And your sister. But mainly you."

Aro. His name was Aro. This was the one who Carlisle Cullen spoke with, a lot. She didn't respond to Aro's words and instead had to take a step back to take Kol's hand. He was getting angry.

"And the Mikaelsons. Didn't you try to use us a few centuries ago to get rid of your father? A mere family dispute?" Aro was getting braver, he mistook Bella's step back as retreat. "Didn't _we_ agree not to busy ourselves with each other's businesses?"

"If that's your attempt of creating doubt and suspicion into the girl's minds, then may I suggest you try again? Myriam and Bella both know that we've done things in the past we weren't proud of. Now, why are you so keen on trying to resolve things by talking? We were having so much fun destroying you all," Kol replied, quite angry towards his siblings for not having told him about their encounter with the Cold Ones, but perhaps his brothers had good reason not to tell them. Now was not the time to doubt his brother's motives or request that they'd explain themselves. "Let's continue."

Aro was surprised then when Myriam lunged forward and grabbed the younger Volturi leader, ripping off his head before kicking it around like a ball. "Oh, that was fun!" Myriam grinned.

"La Cantata si libera!" Aro squeaked when Kol was holding him by the throat. "La Cantata si libera!"

"Been there, done that…" Bella murmured as she spotted some swords hanging from the wall and headed over to grab one. "It's an experience we all don't want to go through again," she added as she walked back, dragging the sword along with her. Not because she was lazy, but because it was heavier than she'd expected a sword to be. The steel blade scraped along the floor as Bella made her way back to Kol, who was still holding Aro by the throat. "Oh, I'd have loved to have gone nuclear here in Volterra. Destroying you all with one simple kaboom! Instead, I nearly ended up ruining New Orleans. If it weren't for my sister… the one you didn't know about, then it definitely would have happened."

"Surely by now you both have felt the changes within my sister, and myself," Myriam smirked as she kept Marcus in his chair, toying with his long hair, loving her sister's flair for the dramatic with the sword and all. "The singer is free, indeed, and in more ways than you can possibly imagine."

Bella handed Marcus the sword. "You are going to decapitate your friend here, I feel a lot of resentment towards him from you, so you will get what you want," she said as she got inside his mind as well. "And then you will allow my family to rip you apart. Penance for what you and your people have done to me, my sister and many other children. After that, we are going to ruin this city as a warning to anyone who's left. The reign of the Volturi ends today."

* * *

 **A/N:** One more chapter left! Thank you all for sticking with me!


	25. Chapter 25

The burning of Volterra had been beautiful and Elijah made sure that the province of Pisa received a generous donation to the rebuilding of the old city, should they so wish. It had been liberating to destroy all the Cold Ones in Volterra. The Newborns, and the Volturi leaders and their wives, and Bella didn't allow herself to mourn the losses of all those lives, because technically - and literally - everyone that had been destroyed had already been dead and some for quite some time.

They went back to Rome for about a week before Elijah decided to go back to New Orleans and Rebekah wanted to go back to France. Klaus, Kol, Myriam and Bella traveled south in Italy to the Amalfi coast, close to Pompeii and Naples, where they spent a couple of weeks enjoying themselves with day trips out, laying on the beautiful beaches, exploring. When Klaus and Bella went somewhere to practise their art, Kol took Myriam to a coven of witches to practise her magic.

And normally, both Klaus and Kol would get annoyed that they basically shared each other's girlfriends in this way. There was no sex involved, of course, but to have a very good _friend_ that was your brother's girlfriend and your girlfriend's sister was strange to have. But there was no jealousy, all was done without fighting and Kol couldn't help but wonder if Bella had to do something with it. There was no way that he and Klaus could be this… _peaceful_ together.

Bella didn't get angry for him asking if she had anything to do with his and Klaus' relationship, in fact, she was hurt. For a brief moment it looked like the question had shattered her beautiful heart in tiny little pieces before she found her composure again and thought for a moment before she replied. "Change is possible, even when you're a vampire," and she had then left him to join her sister at the pool, ignoring him for the rest of the day. Niklaus was amused by this behaviour, of course, and was doing everything he possibly could to remind Kol about the fact that she had finally grown into her own skin.

It was Elijah's phone call that disrupted the bubble the four of them had created on the Amalfi Coast a few days later, that they had to urgently return for New Orleans. While Elijah was usually keen on elaborating as to why, this time he didn't say anything which concerned both Kol and Klaus. Needless to say, they went back the first opportunity they got.

A very unexpected surprise was waiting for them when they returned to the compound. There was a large piece of dark fabric covering the top opening of the courtyard, and Marcel's vampires were in front, like guarding the courtyard. "I'm not liking this," Klaus said as he got out of the car and didn't even wait for the rest to exit the car as he marched inside. "What the hell is going on here?" He demanded.

Bella flatout refused to get out of the car, and Kol was curious. "What's wrong?"

"Oh…" she gestured to the building. "It's filled with Cold Ones, I don't know why Klaus is so eager to march into a place filled with Cold Ones. But then again, the normal vampires are there too… it's… confusing… and- strange..."

"Cold Ones? Does that mean we get to kill more?" Myriam popped her head back into the car, a big grin on her face. It made sense to have the entire compound covered if there were many Cold Ones inside. Wouldn't want to make their home a light nobody could turn off.

She sighed as she shook her head. "No… because… Elijah and Freya allowed them in and they're not fearful or… Something's not right… It's almost… most of the Cold Ones are desperate? Or something? Hopeful? Fearful yet at ease?"

"Well then, we should definitely join Nik inside," Kol said as he helped Bella out of the car. "Let's see what's going on, you don't have to be afraid anymore, you know this, Bella."

"I'm not afraid of _them_ but of what reason they might have for being here."

"We won't know until we find out," Myriam grinned as she looped her arm through her sister's and pulled her along. "They must know by now what damage we both can do, so we could just destroy them all if we need to, saves us a lot of time hunting them down!"

The moment the two sisters set foot onto the courtyard, all the present Cold Ones turned to see them before dropping to their knees with their heads bowed, almost as if they were paying their respects. No. Worse. Worshipping. More Cold Ones spilled onto the courtyard from the spare rooms and the basement area, all behaving this strangely.

"Uh-" Myriam felt a little uncomfortable as she looked around, hoping to find Klaus. "What the fuck?" She found Klaus looking down from the second floor, standing next to Elijah and Freya. All high and mighty. "Care to explain?" She asked as she focused her gaze on Elijah.

"I will," A familiar voice sounded. Both Bella and Myriam snapped their heads towards the voice. It was one of two Cold Ones who had remained on their feet. Peter and his wife. What was it? Charlotte? Myriam's parents. When Myriam let go of Bella in favor of hugging her mother, and slapping her father, Bella took a step closer to Kol for safety.

Yes, it was odd behaviour, especially considering that Bella could protect herself quite well, but she'd rather not. She'd still rather not. She had been tired after Volterra, her head had been tired after Volterra for a few days, and while there weren't as many Cold Ones currently in the compound, she'd rather not do anything that could wipe the floor with her again.

"You killed the Volturi. Bella and Myriam were created by the second coven under direct orders from the Volturi. Yes, you were born from flesh and blood humans, but let's face it, you're still the children of the Cullens," he said, pausing for a moment. "Myriam ceased to be a Cullen when she supposedly died, but Bella… even with their very low opinion of you. The second family was always supposed to take over from the Volturi in cases like these; when they were murdered. With them and the Cullens gone, you have inadvertently replaced them as rulers of all Cold Ones. An option they had not foreseen, but I have," Peter spoke slowly, making sure his daughter and her sister would understand. "They… _we_ are at your mercy and grace."

"Oh hell no," Bella and Myriam chorused, both crossing their arms over their chests.

"What they're saying is, that we've just returned from a lovely holiday, we are tired and we will have to have a read through of the laws of the Volturi," Klaus said as he appeared next to Myriam. "We're not going to make any rash decisions," he added as he put an arm around his girlfriend. "However, for the safety of the girls, I do wish the Cold Ones out of my house. Surely we have an abandoned warehouse still?"

"Another?" Elijah asked baffled. "They came here in good faith, Niklaus."

"I want them out," Klaus said venomously. "We'll question your judgement later, brother."

It took Elijah an hour to find different arrangements for the horde of Cold Ones and once they were gone, Bella had the feeling that she could fully relax. However, she could feel Kol and Klaus' anger towards their brother and it was hard to shut it out. She quietly went to her room while the vampires were going to fight - because that _was_ going to happen, she could feel it bubble underneath her skin - and take a nice hot bath. Relaxing, and making sense of what she'd seen in the minds of some Cold Ones that she decided to poke around in.

Because it was true what Peter had said, at least that's what she had seen, heard, felt, in the minds of the others. But it didn't make sense. Not at all. Why wouldn't the Volturi have amended the law after learning of the Cullen's deaths? Had they been that preoccupied with everything? Or had their egos simply been too big to see their own demise? Did they truly believe that they would survive the onslaught?

Bella tried to push the thoughts out of her mind. To even entertain the thought to keep the Cold Ones alive sent shivers up her spine. Yes, it'd be a great thing for the Mikaelsons to have an army of statues at their beck and call. It'd be great to make new laws for the Cold Ones to live a different kind of life.

It was entirely possible that there were good ones, like Peter and Charlotte who took care of Myriam. But were those who had been at their compound just that? Good? Bad? Neither?

She let out a cry of frustration and tried to find Kol's mind to get her own mind off of things. And even he was thinking about the possibilities while observing his siblings rant and fume. He was thinking of how Bella and Myriam could use them as a force of good, make a difference in the world either with money or time. He also realized that they were Cold Ones and could decide to overthrow the new government at a drop of of hat, so maybe they all needed to be killed. It didn't matter whether or not the remaining Cold Ones were on the better side of life than their former masters.

Klaus wanted to kill them. Cold Ones were evil. Freya wasn't too happy about the Cold Ones, either. Myriam wanted to kill them, like she had killed so many Cold Ones in the previous years, but on the other hand didn't want Peter and Charlotte dead because those two had tried their hardest to redeem themselves, to be better than the rest of the Cold Ones. Nobody would know if they were all dead that Peter and Charlotte were spared, would they?

Bella withdrew from the minds of her family and decided that they could decide what they were going to do with the Cold Ones. It wasn't as if Bella knew about politics or best things to do in situations like these. It's was probably better to kill them all.

However, she couldn't quite relax in her bath so she unplugged it and got dressed again, deciding to quietly join the discussion that the Mikaelsons were having in the presence of her sister and her sister's parents. Nobody was going to get any rest until they've dealt with this. Bella found it strange to hear the Cullens being referred to as her 'family', they had always made it abundantly clear that she wasn't part of the family, and she had thought of them as 'her people'. The Mikaelsons, and Myriam, were her family. The Cullens never were. They had been her people and while she had been sad that they had died, ruined, even, it had been made clear to her, over and over again, that what they had done, was bad.

Peter had gone to a Cullen family friend after the Cullen's deaths - someone they trusted with making new passports, identities and keep valuables safe. This friend had undeniable proof that Bella was a Cullen in papers that this _friend_ kept safe. Both Charlie and Renée Swan had signed away their parental rights and allowed Carlisle Cullen to adopt Bella as his own child. It was signed by Carlisle Cullen and Aro Volturi.

Bella wasn't sure what was worse; to be the child of the birth giver and the sperm donor or to be a Cullen. She was trained and grown by the Cullens. Charlie and Renée only used her as their 'daughter' for formal events in town. _The special-needs daughter_. Sympathy votes. She'd rather not have parents or legal documents to tell her who her parents were. Like Myriam. It made things a lot less… icky. Myriam was free, despite Peter and Charlotte being her parents.

"What if I reject those papers?" Bella wondered out loud, all heads turning to see her stand at the doors, quietly. "Would that be possible?"

"Legal papers can't be rejected like that," Peter eventually said. "Especially not these, since this is under Cold One law."

"Really? Because Charlie and Renée took me with them for pretenses and announced I was their daughter. There must be a human element somewhere, to stop people from digging."

"Nope," Peter shook his head. "It's what the Cullens were for and Charlie used his position as the Sheriff to keep your documents secret. Whether you like it or not, you're in charge."

"I thought Myriam and I were both in charge?"

"Biologically, yes. Legally… she died. Don't you understand, Bella? You inherit everything the Volturi and the Cullens had, or what's left of it anyway. Their wealth. You're in a unique position of power-"

"That's what everyone likes, isn't it? Power. It's what made the majority of the Cold Ones the way that they are. They are more powerful than a human, so why not dominate them? Make them into science projects," she replied angrily, her hands balled into fists by her side. She could feel her anger bubble underneath her skin and she was sure that it wasn't just her own anger. No, it was that of her sister too. "Power allows people to do the strangest things, stupid things. Immoral things. Evil things. Power makes you dominate others, make them your… _bitch_."

Bella entered the room further, she wanted to be next to Kol, safe. "Power is dangerous, the Mikaelsons can all agree to that. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best, and while the Mikaelsons have learned, the Cold Ones haven't. Either they never will or have a very long way to go before they understand this, and frankly, I'm not sure if we should allow them the time."

"Bella, you don't know what you're talking about," Peter chided her, where Charlotte wisely kept her mouth shut.

"I do!" She shot at him, her anger getting the worse of her, but she needed to reign it in. "I am already more powerful than you will ever be. I can get inside your mind, drain you dry, make you do things you don't want to do. If I really want to, I can make your brain explode. That's power. And power corrupts and it's so hard not to give into the feelings because I know I can hurt people and I don't want them to get hurt. I don't need more power. The Mikaelsons don't need more power."

"We're going to kill the Cold Ones that Elijah put in storage?" Myriam smiled at her sister. She wholeheartedly agreed with her sister. Who could tell if the remaining Cold Ones would like their new rulers? Besides, Myriam had always wanted to put an end to all Cold Ones because unlike the traditional vampires, Cold Ones hardly changed their ways. For the Mikaelsons, and her parents, to even consider all the power they could add to their already established foothold, was maddening.

"We are going to kill the Cold Ones that Elijah put in storage," Bella agreed. "And those who are still roaming this Earth. No more Cold Ones."

"Bella, you have no idea what you're doing."

"Listen up, _mate_ ," Kol shot at Peter. "Bella's made her decision and if she's truly your new leader, you need to respect her ideas. You can be assured that she hasn't lost all of her marbles, we all can attest to her intelligence and she's autonomous in her own life," Kol said as he rose to his feet to make himself taller than the Cold One. "Think of her as anything less _again_ , and I won't care that you've raised Myriam."

"Peter and Charlotte can live, of course," Bella said as she looked at her sister. "Because they saved you and raised you. They just can't be allowed to create new Cold Ones. Unless you want them gone too."

"I'm with Kol on this one, unfortunately," Myriam muttered as she looked over at Peter. "My _father_ smells power and changes his stance from you being competent to being incompetent to make sure he can get said power. Never thought of him being power hungry, no matter how he wants to use it, even for good." She truly was disappointed in him, and her admission to Bella changed Peter's mindset immediately. "Maybe he and Charlotte should travel the world to find the last remaining Cold Ones and send them here so we can take care of them."

Bella definitely liked that idea and nodded. "Good, then can we please now relax and sleep off the travel from Europe to New Orleans without having to think about what we're going to do?" Bella asked as she looked at her family. "Please?" She still wanted to give Peter a taste of what she could do, but didn't. Because of Myriam.

Kol scooped her up in his arms and softly kissed her. "Yes, let's get you all relaxed and sleepy so you can sleep some," he teased her. Kol had already suspected that Bella's mind was swimming with the new information and feelings and he really didn't mind getting her off. And her mind off of things that weren't really important, but mostly getting her off. That was so much fun! In all honesty, her forcefulness and her resolutions had made him horny. He wanted to get off as much as he wanted to get her off. Oh, they were going to have a blast!

~o.O.o~

Bella and Myriam decided that sitting around doing nothing wasn't for them, and with the help from Klaus and Kol they had opened a small cake shop where they sold cupcakes in all tastes and with cute little decorations. Myriam mostly did the baking, Bella created every sign, every folder, by hand and when she didn't have to do anything, she helped Myriam to bake and to sell the cupcakes.

They sold coffee too and people usually lingered to drink their coffee at the shop. Both Myriam and Bella loved their little shop, their own little bubble that they had created. They ran a successful shop, and every dollar earned went straight to a foundation that helped mistreated people. Children. Women. Men.

Kol had joked that the girls were being idealistic hippies, but Bella knew that he was proud of them.

They hadn't seen a Cold One for over ten years. Peter and Charlotte did continue to travel the world to find Cold Ones and to destroy them, and it worked well. It was rather strange that one found himself in Bella and Myriam's shop in full daylight wearing a dark hood, scaring the customers. After quickly ushering the humans out of the store and closing the blinds, the Cold One lowered their hood and revealed a man.

"Please," he said as he fell to his knees in front of Bella. "Don't hurt me, hear me out, please."

"Oh, don't do that," Bella said as she leaned against a table. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"My name is Amun. Peter and Charlotte sent me. We are but a few Cold Ones in hiding, and we are well aware of Peter and Charlotte's mission," Amun said, not moving an inch. "But it has to stop. You are upsetting the balance."

Myriam was curious. "Upsetting the balance? Of what?"

"Nature."

Bella narrowed her eyes on Amun as she searched his mind. He was lying to save his own ass. He was the oldest Cold One in existence and had created newborns quite recently. He'd also killed Charlotte. Peter was on a warpath because of it. Amun just happened to come to New Orleans quicker. "If you've come here to plead for your life, Amun, then you will be disappointed," Bella said as she stepped away from him and let out a groan as she looked around. "We're not going to kill him here," she said as she nudged the Cold One to sleep. "I'd hate having to repaint our shop!"

"Lies? Why am I not surprised?"

"He's yours," Bella sighed as she looked at her sister. "You may ask him yourself why he has earned your wrath, but not here."

"Bella," Myriam's voice made it clear that Bella had no choice but to reply. She didn't want to find it out for herself, Bella had to tell her.

Bella was quiet for a moment as she never averted her eyes from her sister. "Amun killed Charlotte."

Myriam blinked for a moment before emotion washed over her face as her face changed in to her hybrid one. "Call Peter. He and I are going to fuck this guy up together!" Myriam said as she pulled the hood back over the now sleeping Cold One and lifted him up. "I'm taking him home. There are reinforced dungeons with his name on it."

"Change your face back, silly," Bella laughed as she grabbed her phone. "It's not Halloween yet!"

"No, it's fucking Christmas and this fucker is my present, thank you, sister!" Myriam had a delightful look on her face underneath her grief as she bounded out of the store.

*The End*

* * *

A/N: Thank you all for reading and commenting and sticking with this story! It's always sad when a story comes to an end, but don't worry, I'll keep on writing more! Right now I'm in the middle of posting a Twilight/Teen Wolf story called Underground Railroad and I'm working on another The Originals story. So many ideas...

xxx Buggy


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